Wait. What? How did I get here?
Don't panic! You've been brought to this page because you clicked an example of a malicious link in one of our E-mail Security Awareness Campaigns. Nothing bad has happened and we just want to share some quick tips for how you could have spotted the e-mail was not legitimate.
Note: You do not need to change your password because this was only a simulation.
About Voice Mail Phishing Scams
Since rolling out Teams Calling to the VIU Community, employees are seeing an influx of fake voice mail e-mails. Attackers never waste a good opportunity while everyone is transitioning to new systems and learning new things.
Click the image below to review the malicious e-mail along with a few tips on how to identify it as fraudulent:
What's the #1 Thing I Could Do
The #1 thing you can do is treat your Inbox(es) like a school zone. Slow down when reading and acting on email.
We're all used to driving 10km/hr over the speed limit on the highway and that behaviour can translate into our work. We are all super busy, our attention is split, and it's easy to be on autopilot without taking a moment to pause and really think about what we're doing in the moment. However, I suspect none of us speed in a school zone because of the heightened risk and greater impact of making a mistake on that stretch of road.
Email is the HIGHEST risk areas of your job for being exploited and manipulating you into granting access to or sharing sensitive information.
So what does a real voice mail e-mail look like?
Quick Tip: If you are only checking your personal voice mail you can save time by opening Teams, clicking Calls and Voicemail to view your voice mail. If you have no voice mail in Teams than that e-mail is probably malicious and you can report it to IT using the 'Report' button or delete it.
If you receive voice mail notification e-mails for a call queue you will need to review the e-mail as call queue voice mails won't appear in your personal Teams voice mail.
Ok, you're probably wondering, what does an real voice mail e-mail look like from Teams Calling? Prepare to be under whelmed. We were.
Here are some sample voice mail e-mails, click the images below to view them:
| From an Employee |
From a Student |
 |
 |
The indicators of a legitimate employee or student voice mail are:
- There is no "[External]" in the subject line
- There is no "External Email: This email was sent from outside VIU. Treat links and attachments with extra caution." banner
- The body of the e-mail will contain
- A transcript of the voice mail
- Calls from employees will show their Job Title and Department (listed as "Company"), that they are an "Affiliate" or "Retired"
- Calls from students will show their Job Title as "Student"
- The callers @viu.ca or @my.viu.ca address
- There will be one attachment named "audio.mp3"
Here is a sample voice mail from someone calling from outside of VIU, click the image below to view it:
The indicators of a legitimate outside caller voice mail are:
- The "From" address will be in the format of:
"+########### (External) <noreply@skype.voicemail.microsoft.com>"
or
"<FIRSTNAME LASTNAME (External) <noreply@skype.voicemail.microsoft.com>"
The key thing to look for is: "<noreply@skype.voicemail.microsoft.com>"
- There is no "[External]" in the subject line
- There is no "External Email: This email was sent from outside VIU. Treat links and attachments with extra caution." banner
- The body of the e-mail will contain
- A transcript of the voice mail
- The callers phone number in the format of "+###########" or the callers name
- There will be one attachment named "audio.mp3"
We know these e-mails aren't great. Microsoft does not let us customize or brand them.
IT is looking into ways to make legitimate voice mails standout and be easier to identify. If we find a way we will communicate it out to the community before updating the look of these e-mails.