Reminder for Web Editors – Contact Information on Providence.edu sites
Web Editors- just a gentle reminder regarding the use of individual contact information listings on providence.edu sites. Due to issues with nefarious actors (hackers, spammers, information miners etc) scraping our websites of personal contact/role information (individuals college email addresses, office phone numbers, position titles etc) to use for their activites, we strongly recommend the following:
- Opt for institution-wide or department-wide contact information only- use the College’s general phone number 401.865.1000 instead of individuals office phone numbers. Use a generic department email address for example helpdesk@providence.edu instead of using individuals college email addresses or better yet, a department-wide contact form. A great example of a department-wide contact form is used on the Human Resources site- https://human-resources.providence.edu/contact-us/ These forms hide personal contact details, while still routing information to the relevant team members. If you are interested in having one of these forms for your department, please submit at ticket.
- No VP-Level Contact Information – Bad actors specifically target individuals in our organization who are Vice Presidents- either contacting them directly or using their contact information posted on our sites to solicit members of their team for further information, which they can than use to attempt illicit access to our systems, convince team members to divulge business information or conduct other activities (such as purchasing gift/credit cards etc). Using generic department email addresses, general phone numbers or contact forms helps to protect their contact information, and in turn, protect the College.
If you have any questions or would like some assistance, please reach out – web@providence.edu – we’re here to help!
– The Web Services Team
