What's the difference between Phishing, Spam, and Cyber Harassment?

Phishing causes harm to people and/or organizations. 

It allows cybercriminals to profit or gain access to accounts and systems for malicious or illegal purposes.

The harm can be quite significant. Some can include what appear to be personal threats, or seem like they’re targeting a specific individual.

The vast majority of phishing attacks are sent out en masse even when they appear personalized.

Spam is called junk mail for good reason. 

Spammers send emails promoting products and services to as many people as possible - whether or not they've subscribed to a mailing list.

It’s unwanted, and worse, it can lead to even more spam.

1. Use the Unsubscribe option in marketing or communications emails from companies or organizations that you have a relationship with, like newsletters that you originally signed up for, or communications from a company you’ve purchased from.
2. Never click the Unsubscribe button in an unsolicited spam email - it lets the spammers know your email account is active. Use the Report Junk button in your email instead!

Cyber Harassment

Sometimes it can be tricky to tell if something is phishing, harassment or bullying targeted at a specific individual, in particular when they overlap.

Cyber harassment is targeted at a specific individual or group of individuals.

Oftentimes it will be prolonged, repeated, and list alleged grievances or accusations.

If you encounter this, report it to the appropriate authorities; they can take action to investigate. 

If cyber harassment occurs through a McGill-provided IT service, please report it.

1. Instead of blocking an email address, which lets the sender know their emails aren't reaching you, we recommend creating a mailbox rule to move any messages from the sender to a designated folder, where you could keep them for evidence purposes.
2. If at any point you feel like you might be in physical danger while on McGill campus, contact Campus Public Safety immediately.