RECOGNIZE, PROTECT, REACT to Information Security
Information security is a joint task of all employees, students and members of the University of Münster. See-Protect-React represents a three-step process of competencies designed to make information security more accessible in your daily work.
The See section provides information on potential threats, attackers' approaches, and the value of your information.
The Protect section provides you with concrete action instructions, step-by-step guides, and useful tips for implementing a secure way of working in your everyday workplace.
In the React section, you will find clues on how to recognize a security-critical incident, what to do in such a case, and who to contact immediately.
IT- and Information Security Courses
Checklists
Use our IT Security Checklist to implement the necessary IT security measures at your workplace step by step.
Use our Checklist: How to Detect Scam Emails to identify and protect yourself against phishing and other harmful emails.
Also, use our Emergency Card to ensure that if you can no longer access the Internet, you can still reach your responsible contacts.
Warning about current phishing e-mails
An increased amount of phishing e-mails is currently being sent to many members of the University of Münster.
The phishing e-mails are sent out with different subjects but all pretend to come from the University of Münster (e.g. "Uni Münster Support" or "Campus Portal Service"). So far only external sender adresses have been seen. The content requests a fake "portal update" and contains a link to an external website that deceptively imitates the IT portal login. So far the following subjects have been identified:
- Wichtig: Update deines Portals
- Erinnerung: Portal-Aktualisierung erforderlich
- Aktion erforderlich: Portal aktualisieren
- ?? Bitte aktualisiere dein Portal bis Freitag
- Wichtiger Hinweis: Portal aktualisiere
Warning about current scam e-mails
An increased number of different scam emails are currently being sent to many members of the University of Münster.
Several different campaigns have been observed in which the attackers pose as university employees, supervisors, or conference organizers. In these emails, items are offered as gifts, recipients are asked to purchase gift cards or prepaid cards, or alleged bookings for conference attendance are confirmed. All of these are fraud attempts aimed at getting recipients to make payments through various channels.
Warning about attacks with fake captchas (ClickFix)
Currently, there's an increasing number of so-called ClickFix attacks (also known as Fake-Captcha attacks) being observed against members of the University of Münster. This attack method lures users to manipulated websites that display seemingly harmless Captcha prompts, error messages, or verification requests (e.g., "I am not a robot," "Please verify you are human," or "To fix the problem, please follow these steps"). Entry often occurs via manipulated search results, compromised websites, phishing emails, or advertisements. Instead of a genuine Captcha check, users are instructed to perform a dangerous action or key combination.
Anyone who executes these steps unknowingly starts malware on their device or unwittingly grants attackers access to services. Attackers use this to steal login credentials, session cookies, or other sensitive information, or to permanently compromise the system. Often, stolen credentials are then used for further attacks. Similar variants exist for macOS and Linux, prompting users to execute commands in the terminal.