October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This month, Long Beach City College Information Technology Services is focusing on five small habits that make our campus—and our lives outside work—safer. 

Week 1 Habit: Pause. Inspect. Verify. 

Cyber scams do not arrive only through email. They may reach you in several ways: 

• Phishing: Fraudulent email or online message
• Smishing: Phishing delivered via text message
• Vishing: Phishing conducted via phone call or voicemail

The Goal: Scammers create artificial urgency to pressure you into acting before you think.

Common Scam Scenarios

Be extra cautious if you encounter:

• A shared document or voicemail notification.  
• A payroll, benefits, or account problem.  
• An urgent request from a student, colleague, or LBCC executive.  
• A text asking you to buy gift cards or send payment information.  
• A call asking for your password, verification code, or sensitive details.  

This is a reminder that we must continuously make informed decisions when dealing with email, text messages, and phone calls. Please review the information on how to recognize phishing email messages.

Reminders when at Work:

• Suspicious Email: Use the Report button in Outlook. Simply right click on the email and select Report, then choose Report Phishing.
• Suspicious Call/Text: Do not reply. Report the incident directly to the ITS Help Desk.
• Clicked a link or shared credentials? Contact the ITS Help Desk immediately so we can secure your account.

Please remember: Dr. Muñoz and other LBCC executives will never ask you to purchase gift cards or send payment information through a text message. 

Your awareness is one of the strongest defenses against phishing, smishing, and vishing. Thank you for helping keep Long Beach City College cyber-safe and secure!

Your 3-Step Defense

Pause

Ask yourself:

• Was I expecting this message or call?  
• Is the person creating urgency or asking me to keep the request secret?  
• Am I being asked for money, gift cards, a password, or a verification code?  

Urgency is often intended to keep you from stopping to verify the request. 

Inspect

Check the following:

• the full email address
• phone number provided is legitimate
• link destination
• wording of the message

A familiar name, college logo, caller ID, or professional-looking message does not prove that the communication is legitimate. 

Verify

Contact the person or organization through a method you already trust, such as: 

• The LBCC phone directory.  
• A saved phone number.  
• An official website or mobile app.  
• A previously established email address.  

Do not use the phone number, link, or contact information contained in the suspicious message. 

10-Minute Home Action Task

Bookmark the official sign-in pages for your personal email, bank, credit card, and most-used shopping accounts. Also save the official customer-service numbers for your bank and credit-card provider in your contacts. 

When you receive an unexpected account alert: 

• Open the organization’s official app or website.  
• Use your saved bookmark.  
• Call the number printed on your card or listed on the organization’s official website.  
• Do not use a link or phone number contained in the unexpected message.