Lady Flames honor four seniors
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South Pacific opens in theater
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®
Lynchburg, Virginia
Volume 32 | Issue 16 February 24, 2015
the cold never bothered me anyway
Courtney Russo| Liberty Champion
WINTER WONDERLAND — Students Kayla Morel and Autumn Chesnut enjoy the snowdays that cancelled classes Monday through 10 a.m. Wednesday. (See more snow pictures, including the winner of the Liberty Champion Instagram Contest, on page B6.)
Phishing scams hunt for prey IT tackles problem of malware constantly plaguing university email accounts Emily Hoosier eahoosier@liberty.edu
Like fishing in a body of water, hackers send phishing emails to students complete with bait and a dangerous hook. But instead of a juicy worm, students could find malware at the end of a hacker’s hook. Phishing is different than other junk email because it is “trying to look like something from a trusted source,” Joshua Burch, Liberty University network security technician, explained. Burch deals with these
types of emails daily. The Information Technology (IT) department has filters in place to stop suspicious sites and known scams from reaching students, but Burch said, “the first line of defense in security is the students.” If a phishing email slips past the IT filter, students are encouraged to report it to the IT Help Desk by calling 434-5927800 or emailing scams@ liberty.edu. Some phishing emails make it to the inboxes of the entire student body, while others only reach one or two.
The goal of most phishing emails is to get usernames and passwords. And places with a large email base like universities, hospitals and large companies are prime targets. But students can be aware of red flags that hackers commonly wave in these phishing emails. Many phishing emails do not address recipients by name. They begin with, “Dear Email User.” Liberty University knows the names of students and will begin emails by properly saying hello. Watch out for emails with a warning and a
LU online expands to Dallas Leah Seavers | Liberty Champion
LUO — Online office in Lynchburg.
Satellite office opens in Texas
consequence, such as, “If you do not reply with your username and password, then your email account will be suspended.” “If you get an email claiming to be from the university that is asking you to verify your username and password for whatever reason, it’s probably not from the university,” Burch said. “And if you ever have doubt, the best thing to do is just call the Help Desk and ask.” If the email is addressed to you and seems
Leah Seavers | Liberty Champion
See EMAIL, A2 DIGITAL WORLD — Users have encountered email scams.
Josh Janney jjanney@liberty.edu
Liberty University President Jerry Falwell announced Wednesday, Feb. 18, that the school’s first satellite office will open in Dallas, Texas. According to Falwell, the idea for the satellite office came from research that showed that students are more likely to attend online
classes from a university close to them as opposed to a university several states away. The purpose of the office would be to offer students short-term intensive courses, as well as to give them an opportunity to have face-to-face interactions with Liberty University representatives. This would prevent students near Dallas from having to travel all the way to Lynchburg
for a two-week course. Despite opening a new facility in Dallas for online students, Liberty University Online will still be accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
JANNEY is the asst. news editor.
News
Opinion
Sports
Feature
News Opinion
Sean Hannity speaks to students about economy, fight against terrorism. A2
Baby Leo ignites heated debate over children with Down syndrome. A5
DI hockey sweeps Beavers in last home series of the season.
Philosophy professor embraces teaching opportunity in Romania. B4
Sports Feature
INSIDE THE CHAMPION
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A1 A4 B1 B4