By Arthur Moses Opio

To our staff members, Makerere University being a big brand, it is not immune to cyber scams like this one in the picture.

We write to alert you about another "SALARY SCAM" termed, "Mak Salary Structure and Increment”.

In the body of the communication, the hacker says,

"You have received a secured document from Mak Account Department as regards your 2024 salary structure. Kindly treat as urgent!"

If you are not keen, you will easily click the link or download the secured document. 

In Makerere we know there is no department called "Mak Account Department" that already is a red flag. As a staff member, you must be well aware of the names of key offices we deal with to avoid being scammed.

Following our communication on 18th March, 2024 about Fakes News - Tool For Weaponisation. We mentioned that big institutions like Makerere have not been spared. We shared examples of some of the FAKE NEWS that has been around on the internet. 

Hackers always do a good job of understudying the institutions or companies or organizations they are going to attack. If you do a quick google search about Makerere Salary structure, you will find 81,000 results in 0.24 seconds.Now such information gives hackers a playing field for their social engineering gimmicks.

We have written before, "Hackers don't hack systems first, they hack people." This is akin to how we leave our homes everyday and that boda boda man we have been entrusting to bring food supplies befriends the maid and we keep wondering why the cost of things has gone or why the other day the wheel barrow was missing. The maid becomes the social engineering target for anything they would want to do. When your maid leaves, you find she hasn't gone back to the village and is wandering around the neighbourhood with the boda boda man. That's why it's important to report such incidents to avoid being attacked again.

During the festive season, hackers know people will do anything to buy on discounts, you will get adverts luring you to click links or download attachments.

Our article on how hackers use the festive season could come in handy, always be alert and vigilant. Let us avoid sharing links or spreading promotions without verifying the source of information.

Ensure you report every incident to us, please share the email headers of such fake links.

This Cybersecurity is a good handbook that can help increase your awareness. 

Take time to read it and build your cyber knowledge.

• Beware of Scams during the Festive Season.
• Do not click links from sources you are not sure of.
• Do not download any attachment.

You are better off safe than sorry.