Security Alerts & Warnings

This page lists current warnings regarding suspicious email messages and other cybersecurity hazards at the University of Virginia.  For guidance on how to secure yourself against these hazards, be sure to visit our tip of the month.

Regarding Suspicious Email Alerts

Messages similar to the suspicious emails listed below may be related to phishing scams, schemes to commit identity theft, or other attempts to compromise users’ machines or personal information.

  • If you receive an email similar to any of the suspicious emails on this page, DO NOT respond—delete it immediately!
  • Do not click any links in the email, and do not “unsubscribe” or acknowledge the email in any way.
  • If you receive an email that appears “phishy” and are unsure if it’s legitimate, and it is not listed below, please report it to us by forwarding it to [email protected].

Security Alerts and Suspicious Items Currently Affecting UVA:

Posted:

From: Help Desk
Sent: Friday, April 9, 2021 10:09 PM
To: mst3k [at] virginia.edu
Subject: Claim your refund now.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Dear Applicant,

 After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive an extra tax refund of 944.79 USD

Please submit the tax refund request and click here by having your tax refund sent to your account in due time.

Claim your refund now

Refundable Amount: 944.79 USD
Payment Method: By Credit Card

After completing the form, Please submit the form by clicking the SUBMIT button on form and allow 5-9 business days in order to process it.

This email was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming email.

Posted:

From: Help Desk [email protected]
Sent: Friday, April 9, 2021 5:29 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Password for [email protected] is expire please update to avoid closure of account.

 

Posted:

From: mst3k Mail Gateway
Sent: Thursday, April 8, 2021 11:19 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Today Expiration Date

The delivery of 6 new incoming emails to your Inbox has been rejected.
Use the secure portal below to recover the emails before they are permanently deleted from the server:
hxxps://portal.virginia.edu/user-rejected-messages

________________________________________
Original Message Details
Created Date: Wed, 07 Apr 2021 11:39:00 GMT
Recipient Address: [email protected]

Posted:

from: Docusign
Sent: Monday, April 5, 2021 1:34 PM
To: UVA User (mst3k) [email protected]>
Subject: E-Signature Notification for [email protected]

[hxxps://na2.docusign.net/member/Images/email/docInvite-white.png]
You Have Received a document Form.Pdf to review and e-sign.

Review and Esign Form.pdf
Attention [email protected]">mailto:[email protected]>

Please Review and DocuSign , - - Form.pdf

Thank You,

Powered by
[DocuSign]

Do Not Share This Email
This email contains a secure link to DocuSign. Please do not share this email, link, with others.

Posted:

From: virginia.edu verifier [at ] boxmail.com> 
Sent: Saturday, April 3, 2021 2:58 AM
To: mst3k [at] virginia.edu
Subject: Confirm Your Mailbox

 

 

Confirm Your Mailbox

 

 

Hi mst3k,

 

We suspect a suspicious activity on your mailbox from different IP address.

For security reasons confirm your mailbox, this link will expire in 48 hours

 

Confirm mailbox

 

Posted:

From: Stephen Schindler
Sent: Monday, April 5, 2021 7:24 AM
Subject: Private Tutor Needed

Hello,

My name is Stephen Schindler. I came across your email on the University of Virginia, Department of Proto-European Languages Directory. I'm looking for a private tutor for my daughter. She is 17 years old.
I understand that you might not have time for tutoring due to your position in the department and the consequent busy schedule. If that's the case, I'd appreciate it if you could help put me in contact with a person(s) who might be interested.
The lesson would be held online over Zoom or a similar platform.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks,
Stephen

Posted:

From: on behalf of Microsoft account team
Reply-To: Microsoft account team
Date: Saturday, April 3, 2021 at 7:32 AM
To: "mst3k [at] virginia.edu"
Subject: Microsoft account team

Microsoft 365

Dear, mst3k,

Your account of mst3k [at] virginia.edu will be disconnected from sending or receiving mails from other users. because you failed to resolve errors on your mail. You need to resolve the errors or your account will be disconnected.
Follow the instruction below to resolve now.

RESOLVE ISSUE NOW

Sincerely,
virginia.edu Regards.
©Microsoft Security Team.

Posted:

rom: Mailserver virginia.edu
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2021 3:33 AM
To: User, Typical S
Subject: FINAL WARNING; ️ ACCOUNT TEMPORARY BLOCKED - ️(5) New Pending Mails mst3k [at] virginia.edu

 

Outgoing Mail Error - 5 Incoming Mails Pending

 

 

Dear rp9d

Your e-mail storage is 99% full and cannot recieve all your incoming mails

Due to this error, 5 new mails you sent from : [email protected] are stuck in virginia.edu Server.

See below to recieve and re-send all pending emails back

Release Emails

This is a mandatory message to [email protected]">mailto:[email protected]> webmail service on virginia.edu

Posted:

From: IT_virginia.edu [mailto:abconstrucciones [at] redminettitest.com.ar]
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2021 12:25 PM
To: User, Typical S (mst3k)
Subject: mst3k [at] virginia.edu Notification 3/22/2021 4:24:45 p.m.

 

Mail Verification

Dear  mst3k

The password of your email account  mst3k [at] virginia.edumailto:uva-id [at] virginia.edu>  will expire on 18/03/2021

To continue using your uva-id [at] virginia.edu kindly re-confirm ownership below.

Re-confirm Password

 

Thanks,

virginia.edu Web Administrator

 

________________________________

Posted:

 

Zero-Day flaw in the Chrome web browser for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers

A zero-day flaw has been found in the Chrome web browser used on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers. The flaw (CVE-2021-21193) ranks 8.8 out of 10 on the CVSS vulnerability-rating scale, making it high-severity. The flaw is exploited if a user is running Google Chrome and clicks on a malicious link that goes to a specially crafted website that exploits the flaw (for example, by executing malicious code or even cause a denial-of-service attack on the system).