Beware of Google alert links

Google Alerts is a useful service that allows you to receive emails when new pages appear in the Google search index that are related to specific keywords, such as “FIT.” Unfortunately, there is a new scam that takes advantage of this feature. Recently bad actors have begun injecting malicious sites into the Google search indexes in order to have them also appear in Google Alerts that are being sent to users. When a user clicks on one of these alerts, they will be sent to a page that redirects them to a fake giveaway page, a tech support scam, an unwanted extension, or a malware installer.

How does it impact the FIT community?
Many users at FIT sign up to receive Google Alerts for many reasons, such as for academic research or to stay up to date on specific news items. The emails used in this scam are legitimate, which makes this scam difficult to detect. Cybersafe highly encourages everyone to exercise caution when choosing to click on links delivered through Google Alerts emails.    

What can you do to protect yourself?
To reduce the likelihood of receiving Google Alerts from low quality and malicious sites, users can modify their “How many” setting to “Only the best results” in Google Alerts.

About Cybersafe
The Division of Information Technology is dedicated to informing the community of the latest cybersecurity threats. Visit fitnyc.edu/cybersafe and stay tuned for emails from [email protected] for the latest from the Cybersafe campaign at FIT. 

Be aware—and be cybersafe!