Although many students went home for the recent three day weekend, a few remaining Miami University students received some unexpected phone calls.
Monday, Feb. 19, Information Technology (IT) services reported that two Miami University students contacted IT services over the weekend, stating that they had received a phone call from an unidentified person claiming to be IT service employees. The callers told the students they needed their Miami Banner Web password. One of the calls was received at 5 a.m.
IT services told the students to immediately notify the Miami University Police Department (MUPD) of this - making it clear that the university would never ask for that information.
"(IT services) will never, ever call anyone and ask for their password," said Cathy McVey, the director of customer relations and communications for IT services.
Capt. Jason Willis of the MUPD said that since Monday, there had been no additional calls reported to the police.
"Since the report went out on (Miami's) e-report no calls have been reported to us," Willis said.
Willis said he believes that other than adding and dropping classes and a couple of other Banner Web services, there isn't much the caller could personally gain from the student's password.
Lt. Andrew Powers of MUPD said that the issue is being handled by IT services.
"It's more of an IT services issue at this point," Powers said. "If someone used a password to deprive someone of access to the service, then it would become a criminal offence, but to my knowledge that hasn't happened yet."
However, IT services isn't taking any chances and, according to McVey, is using this incident to educate the student population so that this problem doesn't arise again.
So far, no direct actions have been taken by IT, although McVey said that the students who reported the phone calls were walked through the process of changing their password.
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McVey encourages students, as well as any individual, to never give that type of information out over the phone.
"Even if you are approached in person, you should always ask for some sort of identification," McVey said.
McVey also pointed out that students should always ask for an I.D. if approached by anyone asking for this information. And according to IT services, if any student is contacted and asked for their password, they should contact the MUPD immediately.
"We're trying to use (the incidents) as an educational chance to let students know that the university will never ask for any of their passwords," Willis said.
MUPD is not involved as of now, as McVey added that while there was a possibility of a crime, IT has found no evidence of any criminal activity. Willis said that that MUPD is relying on the Miami's publication of the event to remind students of potential dangers.
Even so, the MUPD and IT services believe that these will be isolated cases. While important, McVey feels that incidents such as these happen frequently, especially outside Miami.
"This is a common thing that occurs in everyday real life - not just at Miami," McVey said.
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