A phishing email scam is currently being spread across many colleges and universities. In this email, the sender claims to have your password and details how they have infected your computer and collected information on your personal computing use (emails, web activity, instant messages). The sender then asks for a ransom payment in the form of Bitcoin. This is a phishing scam, do not reply to that email.

Recommended Actions:

If the password stated in the email is an actual password you use, change that password immediately. It is likely that password was harvested from one of the many publicized data breaches of sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Yahoo over the years. If the password in question is your BU password, follow these instructions to reset it.

If you receive phishing emails, you can report them to IS&T by forwarding the email to abuse@bu.edu.

If you believe your computer has been compromised, please contact the IS&T Service Desk by sending an email to ithelp@bu.edu or calling 617-353-HELP (4357).