Emails to my student account are bouncing
At Brenau University, protecting your personal information and academic data is our top priority. Recently, we have seen an overwhelming surge in phishing scams targeting our student body. These fraudulent emails often impersonate university departments—such as the Financial Aid office—and use subject lines like "Tuition Relief," "Research," or "Internships" to trick students into sharing sensitive details or sending them money.
Our IT department has found that nearly all of these malicious campaigns originate from free email domains like gmail.com, hotmail.com, and yahoo.com. To safeguard our community, we have implemented a new security measure to block inbound emails from these free domains to student accounts.
What you need to know:
Official Communication: Brenau University will never send official business or financial correspondence from a personal free email account (like Gmail or Hotmail). All legitimate university emails will always come from a @brenau.edu address.
Why we are blocking these domains: In recent weeks, 100% of the phishing problems reported by students were traced back to free domain accounts (gmail, hotmail, etc.). This proactive step is designed to stop these scams before they even reach your inbox.
External Contacts: We recognize that some students communicate with outside businesses for internships or clinicals. If you are expecting a legitimate email from an external entity that is unable to reach you, please contact the IT HelpDesk to discuss necessary exceptions. Any legitimate business should not be contacting you with a free, personal email account so we do not expect this to be a challenge.
How to stay safe: Even with these blocks in place, always be vigilant. Look for the [WARNING: Not From Brenau] banner in the subject line of any external emails that do reach you. If you receive a suspicious message, do not click any links or provide any passwords. Instead, delete it or forward it immediately to helpdesk@brenau.edu if you are unsure of the authenticity.
Thank you for your cooperation as we work to keep the Brenau community safe.