Following on from Employee News 11, which stressed the need for vigilance to foil hackers, ICT Services have been made aware that two partner organisations have been attacked – which could potentially lead to harmful emails being received by Council colleagues.
A number of NHS email addresses and Pitney Bowes – a company which provides mailing, ecommerce and financial services – have been compromised.
That has increased the potential risk of ‘phishing’ emails being received by our employees.
‘Phishing’ involves scammers impersonating reputable organisations or individuals via emails, texts or calls to steal sensitive information, cause damage or potentially extort/blackmail.
The NHS compromise has led to some organisations receiving phishing emails from these addresses:
- molly.salter@nhs[.]scot
- amord348@gmail[.]com
- zhengchuang.sia@nhs[.]scot
- izzabella.zainolizzet2@nhs[.]scot
- catriona.mcclements3@nhs[.]scot
We have been advised that these email addresses are legitimate so blocking them could impact upon NHS/local authority business.
- In addition, emails with the following subjects should be considered malicious
- [individual] shared "Medical Report" with you
- [individual] shared "CBD Medical Discussion" with you
- [individual] shared "Outstanding Invoice Statement" with you
There are no specific email addresses from Pitney Bowes, so please be wary of anything claiming to be from them.
ICT Services have confirmed that – to date – no emails have been received from these senders or with the subject lines highlighted, however, if you do receive such an email DO NOT OPEN IT – contact the ICT Service Desk IMMEDIATELY on the helpline 0141 578 8888.
Remember, every email should be considered a threat if you do not expect it or its contents.
If you receive any email to your work address which you think is suspicious, please DO NOT OPEN IT, but forward it to our spam email address – ukspam@fusemail.com
If you open an email and then believe it is suspicious, you must contact ICT IMMEDIATELY on the helpline 0141 578 8888.
For further advice, please see Employee 11 – Stay cyber resilient - protect yourself, colleagues and your workplace.
Thank you,
Jamie Robertson
Chief Finance Office
