There have been public reports of an increased number of spam campaigns, phishing attacks, and malicious code targeting the recent deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. These email messages may attempt to gain user information through phishing attacks or by recording email addresses if the user replies to the message. Additionally, email messages may contain malicious code or may contain a link to a seemingly legitimate website containing malicious code.

Users should be reminded to remain cautious when receiving unsolicited email. Users are encouraged to take the following measures to protect themselves from these types of attacks:

• Do not follow unsolicited web links or attachments in email messages.
• Maintain up-to-date antivirus software.
• Refer to the Avoiding Email Scams article.
• Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks article.