Update: 10:20 a.m.: The University is still on Trend Micro’s blacklist as of Friday at 9 a.m., according to Brian Mertz, CITES spokesman.
CITES is continuing efforts to reduce the number of accounts compromised by phishing emails and other methods, as well as working to minimize negative effects of compromised accounts.
The University was still on Trend Micro’s blacklist as of noon Tuesday, meaning email messages sent from University accounts are still being blocked when sent to customers and organizations that use Trend Micro’s email filtering service, according to a campus announcement.
Phishers attempt to gain personal information by pretending to be trustworthy entities over email.
The University has not experienced any new incidents that would jeopardize the chances of the University being removed from Trend Micro’s blacklist. Since CITES has begun phishing damage control, the University has been removed from some blacklists but not Trend Micro’s.
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CITES is waiting to hear back from Trend Micro about removing the University from their blacklist, said Brian Mertz, CITES spokesman. Trend Micro has not provided a specific date when University accounts will be removed from the blacklist.
“The actions we’ve taken should help convince Trend Micro to take us off their list, but when that happens is entirely up to Trend Micro,” Mertz said.
To improve the University’s chances of being removed from the blacklist, CITES is contacting specific email users and requiring them to reset their passwords.
Mertz said that even if the University domain is removed from Trend Micro’s blacklist, the problem has still not been completely solved. It may be important, now more than ever before, to prevent future phishing attacks.
“If we do (have another phishing attack), Trend Micro and others will be even more reluctant to take us off of their blacklists next time, or they’ll at least make us wait longer until they do,” Mertz said.
CITES has also added extra-automated reviews of outgoing email to check that Illinois email accounts are not being used to send spam.
As a precaution, people with an illinois.edu email addresses are encouraged to change their password to improve their account’s security. Mertz also emphasized the need for users to be vigilant about suspicious emails now and in the future.
Janelle O’Dea contributed to this report.
