Phishing Challenge Recap

This past October VUIT hosted our 2nd annual Email Phishing Challenge. Each week a simulated phishing email was sent to all vinu.edu email accounts and the first user to report the message to the IT Help Desk won a small prize.

Here are the results of the Phishing Challenge:

 

Week 1: Please complete the quick poll! 

Article - Week 1 Phish

  • Recipients: 1213

  • Clicks: 231 (19%) Reported: 9

  • Key Signs:

    • Potential spoofed sender address. 

(From: Vincennes University<admin@vinu.edu>)

  • Ambiguous salutation 

(“Dear user”)

  • Suspicious link destination 

(Hover over the link. Link does not take you to the site the email content says it will.)


 

Week 2: Amazon: Please Review Your Delivery Details to Avoid Return

Article - Week 2 Phish

  • Recipients:1219

  • Clicks: 47 (3.9%) Reported: 32

  • Key Signs:

    • Strange or suspicious email domain.

(From: Amazon <noreply@youraccount-alerts.com>)

  • Ambiguous salutation.

(“Dear user”)

  • Request to click a link or open an attachment.

(Tells you to click a link or open an attachment.)

  • Suspicious link destination.

(Hover over the link. Link does not take you to the site the email content says it will.)

  • Sense of urgency 

(“Do this now!”)


 

Week 3: Email Review

Article - Week 3 Phish

  • Recipients: 1220

  • Clicks: 210 (17.2%) Reported: 31

  • Key Signs:

    • Strange or suspicious email domain.

(Mailserver <noreply@mail-serverpost.com>)

  • Suspicious link destination.

(Hover over the link. Link does not take you to the site the email content says it will.)


 

Week 4: Is your voter registration up to date?

Article - Week 4 Phish

  • Recipients: 1225

  • Clicks: 25 (2%) Reported: 12

  • Key Signs:

    • Suspicious email domain.

(Department of State <vote@compliance-gov.com>)

  • Request to click a link or open an attachment.

  • Suspicious link destination.

  • (Hover over the link. Link does not take you to the site the email content says it will.)

  • Sense of urgency 

(Do this now!”).



 

Week 5: Your organization requires a Zoom upgrade

Article - Week 5 Phish

  • Recipients: 1229

  • Clicks: 115 (9.4%) Reported: 46

  • Key Signs:

    • Spoofed domain from well-known websites/organizations.

(From: Zoom <itsupport@update-zoom.us>)

  • Sense of urgency.

(Do this now!”).

  • Suspicious link destination.

(Hover over the link. Link does not take you to the site the email content says it will.)



 

Takeaways:

Key phishing indicators included suspicious domains, ambiguous salutations, requests for urgent actions, and misleading links. Despite efforts, click-through rates varied from 2% to 19% highlighting areas for continued vigilance.

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