The following notification was sent to PK-12 parents/guardians on Wednesday, July 2 at 8:45 a.m. via ParentSquare.
Dear Parent/Guardian,
We want to make you aware that a phishing attempt was circulated yesterday to East Greenbush CSD staff and some parents and guardians. The message included a fraudulent DocuSign link designed to trick recipients into entering their username and password.
The phishing email appears to come from our Columbia High School Principal Mr. Harkin, but it is not a legitimate email and was not sent from Mr. Harkin. The phishing emails were sent on Tuesday, July 1 between 4:00-6:00 p.m. (see below for a screenshot of what is included in the phishing email). While a single user’s email was accessed, this was not a cyber attack or a breach of our broader data systems.
Screenshot of what is included in the phishing email.
Action Taken
Our team has secured the account from where the email originated and removed all known instances of the message from staff email accounts. We are notifying you now so you are aware of the fraudulent email and can delete it.
If you received this phishing email yesterday, please delete it. Do not click on any links or enter any personal information.
As a reminder, the district will never request your username or password.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is when criminals use fake emails to lure you into clicking on them and handing over your personal information or installing malware on your device.
How to Recognize Phishing
Here are some quick tips on how to clearly spot a fake phishing email:
- Contains an offer that’s too good to be true
- Language that’s urgent, alarming, or threatening
- Poorly crafted writing with misspellings, and bad grammar
- Greetings that are ambiguous or very generic
- Requests to send personal information
- Urgency to click on an unfamiliar hyperlinks or attachment
- Strange or abrupt business requests
- Sending e-mail address doesn’t match the company it’s coming from
If you receive any suspicious emails, do not click on any links or provide personal information. Instead, report them immediately to the East Greenbush CSD Technology Department (helpdesk@egcsd.org).
Thank you for your attention and cooperation.