Protect yourself from phishing
08 Dec 2025
Tips and advice to protect yourself and the University from phishing attacks
The coming month is potentially a time of high opportunity for criminals. We recommend you remain vigilant for email phishing along with similar types of attacks for example on social media, through text/SMS, voicemail and QR codes. Top tips include:
- Ask yourself – are you expecting the message and do you really know who it is from?
- Stop and think – pressure tactics are a red flag. Pause before responding.
We’d also like to dispel a few myths about phishing:
- ‘We’re safe from phishing in the University’: The University is always working to keep pace with cyber criminals by enhancing technical controls, delivering awareness campaigns and phishing simulations. But each of us needs to play our part to help defeat the scammers.
- ‘Mine is not the kind of role to be targeted by phishing’: Anyone’s access can be used to cause a breach, either directly or by using it to deceive others. It’s important for us all to stay alert to phishing.
- ‘There’s nothing I can do except try to spot a phish if it comes’: Prepare yourself by scheduling a regular reminder to refresh your knowledge of phishing.
For example:
- Remind yourself how to report any suspicious email
- Complete or review phishing training
- Clear out digital or hard copy information you don’t need
- Share experiences of scams with colleagues so we can all learn together.
Start today
Visit our University ‘Email Phishing’ web page and:
- Complete or review the ‘Phishing Basics’ course
- Remind yourself how to report a suspicious email.
Remember – JDLR: If it Just Doesn't Look Right, do not click on any links and do not reply - let us know by sending the phishing email as an attachment to phishing@manchester.ac.uk