Information Technology Services has taken several steps to try to block unsolicited email invitations to students from a third-party, commercial website called GetStudyRoom. About three dozen students have complained since Sept. 29 that they received unwanted invitations from the social media site that purports to let students collaborate on academic work. ITS also intends to contact the operators of the GetStudyRoom application, and request that they stop asking students for their WVU credentials. ITS was able to identify the students who improperly provided their credentials to GetStudyRoom. These students will be contacted directly by phone and email, and will be required to reclaim their MyID credentials with a quiz and change their passwords, starting 7 a.m. Thursday. Students who aren’t sure whether they were tricked by the GetStudyRoom application can find out here: defendyourdata.wvu.edu/phishing-check/ ITS has been investigating how the GetStudyRoom service works and how its operators were able to contact students. ITS also has reviewed how other schools have dealt with the service and discovered the application has been blocked by the University of Central Florida, Penn State University and Northern Arizona University. GetStudyRoom requires an .edu e-mail address to sign up and asks students for their institution’s name. But it was not created by the eCampus vendor, Blackboard, or solicited or vetted by ITS. Students should NOT use WVU passwords for GetStudyRoom or any other third-party site. If your GetStudyRoom password is currently the same as your MyID password, please go to https://myid.wvu.edu/ and change your MyID password. Sharing usernames and passwords is a violation of University policy (it.wvu.edu/governance/standards-and-procedures/all-standards/au) governing how students and employees should use technology. Students who shared their WVU passwords did NOT have the ability to compromise any other students’ passwords or personal information. Classmates’ email addresses were the only pieces of information ever obtained by GetStudyRoom. Any student or employee who receives suspicious or unsolicited email should forward those to [email protected] for review.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:24:14 +0000
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