A fraudulent email making false allegations against a student was sent to some members of the faculty of medicine.
Gráinne McElroy, the deputy chief information officer in the faculty of medicine, alerted students, faculty and staff of the “serious cyber security attack” in an email Friday morning.
McElroy told people who receive a similar email to not open it and forward it as an attachment to Campus Security. She also said that people should change their passwords immediately if they entered any information.
“I am asking you all to remain vigilant and engage in cyber defense best practices,” McElroy wrote in the email. She also shared links to UBC’s Privacy & Information Security Fundamentals Training.
In a statement sent to The Ubyssey, McElroy said the faculty was in the early stages of investigating and responding to the situation.
“We learned about the situation late last night and, as we do in any situation like this, immediately took steps to assess and confirm the email was indeed a phishing attempt before notifying the community,” she wrote.
“As the investigation and assessment is continuing, we are not in a position to provide additional information at this time.”