Recently, UMBC’s Division of Information Technology (DoIT) received a report of a new phishing campaign. The actors compromised Professor Kang's account and sent out a job phishing scam. Approximately 1700 accounts received this email message. Below is an example of the email. We removed the To field for privacy purposes.

As mentioned above, the email was sent from Professor Kang’s account; however, he is not the one sending the messages. His account was compromised. The contact email in the message <covidvaccine.ads@gmail.com> does not belong to Professor Kang. Therefore, any response sent to this email will not go to Professor Kang. A similar email template to the one above can be found online with a simple Google search. If you are ever in doubt about your emails, Google it. Companies, facilities, or staff will not send out job offers with known phishing templates.

If you have received any message similar to the one listed above, please forward it with its headers tosecurity@umbc.edu. For instructions, visit https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Receive any suspicious emails?

Forward it to security@umbc.edu along with the email headers. For instructions, visit https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970.

Follow us on myUMBC:https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/itsecurity.

Over the past weeks, we have seen an increase in compromised accounts. So, here at UMBC’s Division of Information Technology (DoIT), we thought it was imperative to share some tips on safeguarding your UMBC accounts.

1. Change your password frequently, maybe once a year. Most of the community members at UMBC do not change their passwords yearly. If hackers try to compromise your account more than once over a specific period, they will have less chance of succeeding if you change your password frequently.

2. Do not use the same password on multiple sites. If you are a victim of a data breach for one of these sites, the hackers now have your password for all those sites, your UMBC account included. After a breach, always update your password. To check if you were involved in a data breach, visit sites such as  https://haveibeenpwned.com/.  Also, given that the usual purpose of identity theft is the theft of something else (like money), keep an eye on your bank account and/or credit card activity.

3. Do not share your password with anyone. When trying to keep your account secure, trust no one with our password.  “No one” means “NO ONE”. Not your parents, not your kid brother, not your significant other.  If someone else needs access to your financial information, please follow the directions at https://sbs.umbc.edu/payments/parent-pin-login/.

4. Install DUO. DUO is a two-factor authentication available at UMBC to help protect your account. For more information, visit https://wiki.umbc.edu/display/faq/Two-Factor+Authentication+with+DUO. Two-factor authentication is currently one of the most effective and affordable ways to secure your UMBC (or any other) online account.

5. Create strong passwords. Do not use the name of a person, organization or your favorite anime character.  Also,, use uppercase letters, lowercase letters, symbols, and numbers to strengthen your password.  

Hopefully, these five steps will help you secure your UMBC and other accounts. For more information about password security, visit https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/password-protection/102105/.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Receive any suspicious emails?

Forward it to security@umbc.edu along with the email headers. For instructions, visit https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970.

Follow us on myUMBC:https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/itsecurity.

The next update to our test environment will take place on April 12, 2022. Faculty who are interested in test driving new features before they are released to production should open an RT ticket to request early access. Please watch the FAQs, including the What's New with Ultra page, and myUMBC for additional information about Ultra.

As always, if you have any questions about teaching, learning, and technology at UMBC, please consider the following options:

The Data Science Team recently released its set of predictions for the 6-year graduation probabilities of the 2020 Freshman cohort. Below is a snapshot of the current cohort's predictions, in blue, with the 2019 Freshman cohort's predictions, in red. 

The vertical axis represents the end of 2nd semester prediction probability; the horizontal axis is the end of the 3rd semester prediction. 

The black diagonal line indicates the point on the graph at which the second semester and third semester predictions are equal. If a dot, representing an individual student, rests on the line there was no change in the student's predicted probability of graduating between their second and third semester. Points above the line mean a student's predicted 6-year graduation probability decreased from semester 2 to semester 3. 

The group of students above the line, particularly in the Moderate and Low probability color bands, are of concern as their predicted probabilities of graduation have declined over their last two completed semesters. 

The 2020 Freshman cohort was the first freshman class during COVID and one of the concerns is the effect COVID may have on student performance in later semesters. From the predictions chart there seems to be reasons for optimism. Looking at the dispersion of points, there is a greater concentration of students in the High and Very High likelihood buckets compared to the 2019 cohort, as shown by the clustering of blue dots in the upper right corner of the chart. 

However, some concern may remain. Students whose predictions fall in the Low and Moderate buckets have experienced sharper declines in predicted likelihood to graduate than students from the 2019 cohort (because the blue dots, 2020 cohort, are much further above the diagonal line than the red dots, 2019 cohort). 

The diagram we've shown in this post is produced by a tool developed by the Data Science Team.  The tool allows staff with broad student success responsibilities to identify groups of students who may need additional support to achieve their goals.  The tool is available at analytics.umbc.edu in the student success section.  Access to it requires permission.  

(NOTE: Please join us Friday, March 18th from 12-1pm, for the fourth in our series of our Spring 2022 Data Science Workshops. This predictive model will be the topic of the session. Go to this link - https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/instructional-technology/events/101281 to register)

Len Mancini

Data Scientist and Statistical Specialist