Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2026: Your Best Defence is You

Dear Laurier Community,

October is full of tricks and treats, but not every trick is harmless.

We’re kicking off Cyber Security Awareness Month 2026 this October, by sharing easy-to-follow advice to help you recognize common threats and keep yourself safe online. Whether you're studying, teaching, researching, or working on campus, a little cyber awareness can go a long way.

This year’s theme, ‘Your Best Defence is You’, showcases tips on how to better understand and recognize all types of cyber security threats. A common threat currently affecting universities and colleges is email impersonation.

Email Impersonation

Not all monsters wear masks. Some hide behind email addresses.

Email impersonation happens when a scammer pretends to be someone you know or trust, such as a manager, professor, colleague, university department, or even a friend. The cyber criminal's goal is usually to trick you into clicking a link, sharing sensitive information, sending money, or taking action before you've had time to think.

Don’t Get Tricked by These Warning Signs

• If an unexpected email creates a sense of urgency, it is most likely not coming from who you think.
• Does an email or message ask you to click a link or open an unexpected attachment?
• Are you being asked for banking information, payment, passwords, or gift cards?

Cast a Spell of Caution

• Does something not look right? Share it with Laurier’s Cyber Security Team to get it checked out by forwarding any concerns to reportspam@wlu.ca or any general cybersecurity questions to cyberhawk@wlu.ca.
• Check the sender’s email address carefully. Sometimes an email address can have a single character or letter that varies from a known email address. This would make it difficult to spot if you are in a rush or just checking a message quickly.
• Hover over links before clicking on them to see where they really lead. There are plenty of fake websites that fraudsters use to try to gather personal information.
• Always verify unusual requests through another method of communication, other than email. Such as Teams, a phone call, an in-person conversation.

Remember, cybercriminals succeed when they catch us off guard. Taking a few extra seconds to verify an email can help protect your personal information, university data, and your important accounts.

Stay tuned for next week as we uncover other cyber threats. Keep up to date with our emails this month for your chance to win a Laurier hoodie. More details to come.

Sincerely,
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)