Campus Technology Services

Starting at approximately 11:58 a.m. on Mar. 31, Campus Technology Services(CTS) was made aware of phishing scams circulated via text message and email posing as the “Oswego State University Of New York”, the SUNY Oswego Financial Aid Office,  “Bank MobileDispersements” or “BMTX, Inc. BankMobile Banking”.

The following are the characteristics of the phishing message:

• It may indicate you have pending funds available from your school’s financial aid disbursements.
• It may identify as your bank or your school’s financial aid office with a non-SUNY Oswego contact and sender email address.
• It may include a document attachment detailing the process for how to get access to these funds.
• It may ask to confirm your bank account information via a web address.
• It may include links to malicious websites designed to mimic your bank login or a form to fill out your bank details.
• It may ask you to verify a 6-digit confirmation code from an authenticator app, email, or text message.

If you received one of these text messages or emails, report it as spam and delete it. Do not open any attachments or click any links before verifying the sender's address or phone number. Contact your bank using the contact details from known and trusted sources.

If you provided any SUNY Oswego information, including your password and/or verification code needed for multi-factor authentication (MFA) or if you accepted the Gmail login challenge, please change your password immediately and contact CTS. You can change your password at the www.oswego.edu/account-tools webpage.

SUNY Oswego will never ask you to verify your identity or account information via text messaging. Your multi-factor authentication codes should be kept private just like your passwords.

If you need assistance changing your password or have any questions or concerns, please contact CTS.

The following will be the schedule for the spring 2025 semester for Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) surveys through the Helio Campus system.

Schedule

• Faculty emailed Monday, 4/14
• Survey open Monday, 4/28
• Survey closed Friday, 5/9
• Faculty emailed results Friday, 5/30

If you have any questions please contact the CTS Help Desk. More information can also be found on the SET website. 
 

As the spring semester begins, Campus Technology Services (CTS) wants you to be aware of phishing scams circulating through email and text messages that can impersonate campus employees and offices. The scams include “urgent” requests to accept unsolicited job offers, to click on links to websites asking for passwords, fraudulent Paypal and Venmo money requests, and to purchase gift cards.

If you are not sure if an email is legitimate, please contact the CTS Help Desk so we can help you determine if you should respond to it.

Here are some tips to help determine if an email is legitimate:

Verify who the email came from and all links in the message body:

• Always check the From: address in the email. Don’t just check the name, though, click on the down arrow in Gmail to look at the actual email address. Some emails will show up as legitimate names, but when you look at the actual email address, it’s not from where you would expect it to be from.
  • Note: All official communications from the campus should come from an email address that ends in @oswego.edu.
  • Call the person or office the message is said to be from, asking if they sent it to you. Don’t use any email addresses or phone numbers referenced in the email. Use our PeopleSearch directory to find official campus phone numbers and email addresses.
• On computers, hover over links before clicking on them to make sure they are legitimate. When you hover over the link, the web address the link goes to will display at the bottom of your Gmail window. On mobile devices, long press a link to review the address.

Hesitate on gift card purchases, unsolicited money requests, unsolicited job offers, sites that ask for a password.

• Hesitate when you are being offered an unsolicited job through email. There are many scams going around to students offering a job. After some correspondence back and forth, they will eventually start asking for your bank account or money for reimbursement expenses. Do not give that out and cease all communications.
• Hesitate when someone is asking you to buy a gift card. Even if you receive an email or phone call from “someone you know,” call the person and verify it with them.
• Hesitate when you are sent unsolicited money requests from Paypal or Venmo, especially if the notes in the request are claiming you owe money or a charge is being placed on your account. Do not contact any email addresses or phone numbers in the request as they may not lead to legitimate support.
• Hesitate when entering a password on any website. Double-check the web address to make sure it's a legitimate site. Your password should never be asked for on a Google form.
• Hesitate when an email has a sense of urgency where if you don’t respond right away your account will be locked.

In general:

• Never give out private information like bank accounts, social security numbers, credit card numbers, usernames, passwords, multi-factor authentication (MFA) verification codes, etc.
• Don’t respond to emails in your “Spam” or “Junk” folder.
• No employee or office on our campus will ask for your password or MFA verification codes.
• If you’ve identified a phish, help Google block it by reporting it.

Official campus employment:

• Student internships and student jobs are only advertised via Handshake
• Employee jobs are available through the Human ResourcesInterview Exchange

If you have responded to a phishing scam change your password immediately, and contact CTS

More information is available from Google’s “Avoid and Report Phishing emails article.

We’re sending an update on the Google storage quota changes planned for Feb. 17, 2025. Based on feedback from our university community, we have decided to postpone implementing storage quotas for faculty, staff, students, departments, student clubs and organizations, and retirees. Implementation of storage quotas will continue as planned for alumni, with ongoing support for those who may have questions.

Over the past year, the total disk space used has remained relatively stable, thanks to the diligent efforts of many who have removed unneeded files. Although we have postponed quotas for the above-mentioned groups, we ask you to continue removing no longer necessary files. Removing unneeded emails and files will help manage storage efficiently and prepare us for future transitions.

To assist you with these efforts, Campus Technology Services (CTS) is now focusing on strategies to help guide data storage decisions that align with your needs, data types, and SUNY record retention guidelines. In late fall 2025, we will reassess quotas based on usage and campus needs.

Starting in January, we’ll send Oswego Today notices with information on data storage best practices and invite you to participate in workshops during the upcoming CELT-sponsored Winter Breakout sessions. These sessions will cover strategies for managing your storage needs effectively.

If you have questions or concerns about this postponement or your current storage needs, please email the Help Desk at [email protected]. 

Thank you for your ongoing efforts and commitment in this area.

Sean Moriarty

Chief Technology Officer

Campus Technology Services