Bergen Community College’s ITS Department is committed to facilitating the safe and secure use of college resources. Developing the skills necessary to protect your private data is essential in our increasingly interconnected world. Please watch our video for details on how to secure yourself online.

Spam, Phishing and Suspicious Emails

Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited – usually undesired – bulk messages indiscriminately. Some spam is merely annoying, while other spam can result in a number of very bad outcomes for unsuspecting recipients.

Phishing is a term used to describe electronic fraud commonly carried out through malicious e-mail attempts to gather personal information. These types of e-mails appear to come from reliable sources like legitimate ISP Provider or your banking institution, and often contain urgent requests that require the recipient to provide personally identifiable information―passwords, credit card account numbers, and Social Security Numbers―by either replying to the e-mail directly, or by entering this information on a bogus Web site.

Never type your sensitive personal information, such as your Bergen email, network account, and password, into a phishing website. Bergen Community College IT Services will never ask for personally identifiable information.

BCC Tips to Avoid Getting Phished

  1. Do not respond to any suspicious e-mail by clicking on links or filling out forms with personal or financial information.
  2. NEVER reply to an unsolicited e-mail that asks for your personal information, including requests for BCC username, passwords, Social Security Numbers, or requests for credit card information. Remember, BCC will never request personal information via e-mail.
  3. BE WARY of messages with suspicious, misspelled, or awkward language, or that reference non-existent BCC Subject like “Webmail Exceeded Limit” or the “Webmail Quota Warning”
  4. BE WARY of messages with suspicious, misspelled, or awkward language, or that reference non-existent BCC departments like “College Webmail Support” or the “Webmail Messaging Center.”
  5. DELETE messages you confirm or recognize to be phishing attempts from your “Inbox” and your “Deleted Items” folder to avoid accidentally accessing the Web sites within the bogus e-mail.
  6. Be cautious about sending sensitive information over the Internet if you’re not confident about the security of the website.
  7. Compare suspicious e-mails to the list of recent phishing e-mail attempts collected by ITS.

How to Report Phish Email

If you believe receive an e-mail that you suspect is a phish or you have responded to a phishing email, change your password immediately and call the Service Desk 201-879-7109 or via email [email protected] to report malicious email.