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U of I Targeted in E-mail Phishing Scam

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A two-part computer "phishing" scam made to steal banking passwords attacked University of Illinois computer users and their off-campus email contacts from as far as Ohio.

UI Technology Services spokesman Brian Mertz says the scam's first wave was an email saying the user had authorized a large payment. The email included an attachment that had a piece of malware that infected the user's computer and read its address book. The users' address books were used to send a second wave of emails with a fax attachment known as a "banking Trojan."

Mertz says the fax attack is used to steal passwords. He says Technology Services has disabled and blocked the malware attachment from users.

Mertz suggests that anyone who received the email should delete it.

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