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Oxford University blocks Google Docs as phishing attacks soar


From: InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2013 01:10:45 -0600 (CST)

http://news.techworld.com/security/3426962/oxford-university-blocks-google-docs-as-phishing-attacks-soar/

By John E Dunn
Techworld
19 February 2013

Oxford University has taken the radical step of temporarily blocking access to Google Docs after a dramatic increase in phishing attacks trying to harvest academic email credentials using bogus forms hosted on the service.

On Monday the University’s IT team it said it dealt with a clutch of account compromises in the space of a few days, almost all using Google Docs to host fake helpdesk alerts.

Unable to get Google to remove the pages quickly enough, and with spammers hijacking legitimate University domain accounts to send spam, the IT department decided to pull the plug for several hours while it considered what technical counter-measures it might deploy.

[...]

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