Keep Cybercriminals at Bay this Holiday
‘Tis the season for holiday cyber scams. With the holidays in high gear, cybercriminals are on the prowl to catch us off guard and get us to reveal passwords, click links and share our personal information. Read below for ways cybercriminals try to reach you and tips to keep both Houston Methodist and you and your loved ones safe.
Common Cyber Threats
- Phishing (Email Scams)
- What it is: Fraudulent emails that appear to come from trusted sources, often offering fake deals or shipping notifications.
- Red flags: Urgent messages, suspicious links or attachments and requests for sensitive information.
- What to do: Don’t click links or respond. Instead, independently verify the sender through official channels.
- Smishing (Text Message Scams)
- What it is: Texts impersonating legitimate entities, like delivery services or banks, often alerting you to “urgent” issues.
- Red flags: Unsolicited texts, unfamiliar links and requests for personal data.
- What to do: Avoid clicking links. Verify the sender’s legitimacy by contacting them through official means.
- Vishing (Voice Call Scams)
- What it is: Calls from scammers posing as service representatives or charities to extract financial information.
- Red flags: High-pressure tactics and unsolicited requests for sensitive data.
- What to do: Hang up and verify the caller’s identity using official contact details.
Tips to Keep You and Houston Methodist Safe
- If someone is calling you claiming they are from HM IT, verify who they are and the phone number they’re calling from. If it appears suspicious, tell them you’ll call them back through the IT Service Desk to ensure that you’re speaking with legitimate representatives.
- Never click a link within a text, email or search result from someone you don’t know or can’t confirm.
- Validate emails from senders within HM. Cybercriminals can easily imitate the email addresses of our executives to get us to click links.
- Save and use favorites and bookmarks to valid sites, instead of following the links provided.
- If you receive a suspicious email or text, don’t ignore or delete it. Report it! When you report a phish, it signals our system to remove it from the mailboxes of other HM team members.
- Click the PhishAlarm button in the Outlook toolbar. (On smaller screens, select the three dots in the upper-right corner to view the option). You can also click the Report Suspicious button in the External Sender header (automatically visible in any email from outside HM).
Let’s finish the year strong by staying focused on cybersecurity and maintaining safe online practices. Protecting Houston Methodist and ourselves from cyberthreats starts with individual awareness and action. Stay attentive, prioritize security and promptly report any suspicious activity to keep us all cyber safe!
Congratulations to our ‘Catch a Phish’ Tournament Winners
In October, we celebrated Cybersecurity Awareness Month with a “Catch a Phish” tournament. Employees faced 18 simulated phishing campaigns, testing their ability to spot and report phishing attempts. The results: 25 vigilant winners across our system were randomly selected from a pool of employees who all successfully reported phishing attempts for their chance to win an HM-branded backpack and a shoutout in IT Matters. Here are a few of our backpack prize winners.