Hoax e-mail not a security breach, CITES official says

Following the mass e-mail sent to students and faculty from a sender posing as Chancellor Richard Herman, CITES has begun investigating to find the perpetrator.

Currently, the investigators in the CITES security department are not sure of who sent the e-mail. They are, however, considering the possibility that it was sent from off-campus.

However, Mike Corn, director of security and privacy for CITES, said the prank was not a breach in security.

"What's important is that students understand that there is no security concern," Corn said.

The e-mail appeared to be sent to everybody@illinois.edu, but Corn said that it was just text, and the sender used a practice called "phishing." This term commonly applies to people sending spam where the e-mail appears to be from a legitimate source.

Corn said that in most cases with phishing, the sender's intent is malicious, and an attempt to access personal records. In Monday's e-mail, the sender was not being malicious, but rather using Chancellor Herman's name to get attention, Corn said.