By Dean Jepsen ’19
Staff Writer
If you’ve checked your emails in the past two weeks, you’ve probably noticed some sketchy messages. These “phishing” emails have been sent from hackers trying to wreak havoc on campus, hoping to lure students into revealing critical and private information. The administration has done their best to make sure that no students fall victim to these dastardly attempts; however, chaos has already ensued.
One of these messages, tempting students to register for paid dog watching services, had a huge blow on the student body. Hundreds of college students, dog-deprived and desperate to pet something, gave up all their financial information in a matter of seconds in order to get a shot at the promised puppies. One of the phishing victims said in an interview, “… I didn’t even think twice. I read the word ‘dog’ and I immediately sent them my credit card information. I feel like that’s what any rational person would do… they’ve taken a lot of my money… the dogs have got to be real though, right?… you don’t lie about dogs…”
Additional trouble has been caused by these emails. Local fishermen in Lake Bluff misinterpreted the “phishing attempts” as a growing movement of college students trying to hone their angling skills. Large, disheveled men have been storming the College in hopes of recruiting students for their cause. This has been met with a lot of confusion and weird looks. Students report people singing sea shanties in front of Young Hall, and the odd smell of bait permeating the Lillard Science Center. The IT department has been trying to explain the miscommunication to them.
Students have tried to fight back, replying to the phishing emails with clever comebacks, such as “nice try, guy,” “not today, doofus,” and “this ain’t it, chief.” These masterful retorts have not resulted in further communication with the anonymous hackers, despite best efforts.
This article is meant to serve as a reminder to all of you to be safe and smart on the internet and to never give out your personal information to insecure sources—even if they promise puppies. This article also hopes to emphasize the key difference between “phishing” and “fishing,” a tricky but important distinction.
To all those who had important information compromised, we hope you get things straightened out and that you get to pet a dog in the near future.
Dean Jepsen can be reached at jepsenda@mx.lakeforest.edu.
