The Pulse Marks One Year Anniversary
Author: Carolyn Pennington
Phishing Tips: Beware of Email Links and Attachments
Recently, some Connecticut state employees responded to a well-crafted “phishing” email directing them to click on a link to what appeared to be the CORE-CT website in order to retrieve their W-2. This was a fake website, and the employees who followed the link and entered user ID and password unwittingly gave the perpetrators access to their CORE-CT login credentials and all of the personal information contained there, such as Social Security number, home address, birth date, etc.
Armed with this information cybercriminals can file a phony income tax return in your name, open credit card accounts and attempt to steal funds in your bank accounts or retirement savings accounts.
Here are some tips to protect yourself from phishing:
How to Spot a Phishing Email
Phishing is a deceptive attempt to pose as a reputable entity or person in electronic communications, such as email, IM or social networking.
Unofficial “From” Address. Look for a sender’s email address that is slightly different (but similar to) an official email address. The most recent phishing attack came from an e-mail address that read: donotreply@ct.gov <ssellick@tbaytel.net>. The second part of the email address shows that it came from outside the system.
Urgent Call for Action. Cyber criminals include urgent “calls to action” in emails to get you to react immediately. Be wary of emails containing phrases like “your account will be closed,” “your account has been compromised,” or “urgent action required.” The cybercriminal is taking advantage of your concern to trick you into providing confidential information immediately.
Generic Greetings. Cyber criminals send thousands of phishing emails at a time. They may have your email address, but they seldom have your name. Be skeptical of an email sent with generic greetings, such as “Dear Customer” or “Dear Member.” The most recent attack targeted our state’s Enterprise Resource Planning system Core-CT.
Link to a Fake Website. To trick you into disclosing your user name and password, cyber criminals often include a link to a fake web site that looks like (sometimes exactly like) the sign-in page of a legitimate web site. Just because a site includes a company’s logo or looks like the real page doesn’t mean it is! Logos and web site layouts are easy to copy. You can detect a fraud by using your mouse to “hover” over the link with your cursor. This will reveal the website to which you are being directed (and it may not be the one you expected). The best practice is to refrain from CLICKING ANY LINKS IN EMAIL. Navigate to the site by your normal means.
Legitimate Links Mixed with Fake Links. Cyber criminals sometimes include authentic links in their spoof pages, such as to the genuine privacy policy and terms of service pages for the site they’re mimicking. These authentic links are mixed in with links to a fake phishing web site in order to make the spoof site appear more realistic.
Other Characteristics of Phishing Emails:
- Spelling errors, poor grammar, or inferior graphics.
- Requests for personal information such as your password, Social Security number, or bank account or credit card number. Legitimate companies will never ask you to verify or provide confidential information through an unsolicited email.
- Attachments (which might contain viruses or keystroke loggers, which record what you type).
What to Do if You Are a Victim of a Phishing Email.
If you have clicked on a suspicious email link and feel your personal identifiable information may have been compromised, here are a few steps you can take to protect yourself.
- Change your passwords for all employer software systems, and all personal bank, retirement and financial accounts.
- If you have not already done so, register your financial and banking accounts for online access only and choose challenging security questions with answers that only you would know.
- Regularly review your bank, credit card, retirement and financial account(s) for any unauthorized activity.
- Regularly review your credit report for any unauthorized activity. Under federal law, you are entitled to one free copy every 12 months. You may obtain a copy by calling 877-322-8228 or online at annualcreditreport.com;
- Learn more; by visiting the Federal Trade Commission’s website at ftc.gov/credit.
The Department of Administrative Services will be introducing a new Cyber Security Awareness training program soon. It will include further information on how to use email safely. If you are suspicious about any email that you receive, contact the IT Help Center at x4400 or via email: helpdesk@uchc.edu.
January PAWS Award Winners
Human Resources is pleased to announce January 2017 PAWS award recipients. The award honors employees who consistently perform above and beyond the expectations of their job and exhibit the following attributes: Part of a team; Awesome attitude; Wonderful work ethic; and Superior service.
Individual Winners: Rashea Banks, Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center; Doreen Barnofski, Dermatology Clinic; Laura Didden, Dental Dean’s Office; Marsha Dowling, UMG-Rheumatology; Cherayne Forknot-Gayle, Medical/Surgical 5 Unit; Patricia Joyce, UMG-Internal Medicine; Catherine Kay, UMG-Rheumatology; Ashley Schwartz, UMG-Rheumatology; and Shevonne White, Operating Room.
UMG General Medicine MA Team: Danielle Beaudoin, Wendy Carros, Stephanie Laster, Jenny Ojeda Rosado, Karolina Simko and Lucy Sokolsky.
UConn Health Faculty on Best Doctors List
Hartford Magazine’s Best Doctors® list includes 58 UConn Health faculty members practicing in such areas as dermatology, geriatrics, surgery, orthopaedics, and obstetrics and gynecology. The list was drawn from the database of Best Doctors in America, an independent service that offers second opinions online.
Best Doctors physicians are selected by other doctors as part of a comprehensive review process. These are the doctors that other doctors recognize as best in their fields.
UConn faculty cited:
Marc Paradis, Anesthesiology
Amir Tulchinsky, Anesthesiology
Jason Ryan, Cardiovascular Disease
Peter Schulman, Cardiovascular Disease
Aseem Vashist, Cardiovascular Disease
Jane Grant-Kels, Dermatology and Pathology
Hanspaul Makkar, Dermatology and Pediatric Dermatology
Marti Rothe, Dermatology
Bruce Strober, Dermatology
James Whalen, Dermatology
Jeffrey Spiro, Ear, Nose, and Throat
Andrew Arnold, Endocrinology
Carl Malchoff, Endocrinology
Pamela Taxel, Endocrinology
Robert Cushman, Family Medicine
Patrick Coll, Geriatrics
Anne Kenny, Geriatrics
Margaret Rathier, Geriatrics
Gail Sullivan, Geriatrics and Internal Medicine
Craig Rodner, Hand Surgery
Rebecca Andrews, Internal Medicine
Elizabeth Appel, Internal Medicine
Lynn Kosowicz, Internal Medicine
Thomas Manger, Internal Medicine
Jacqueline Nissen, Internal Medicine
Andre Kaplan, Nephrology
Claudio Adrian Benadiva, Obstetrics/Gynecology
Molly Brewer, Obstetrics/Gynecology
Winston Campbell, Obstetrics/Gynecology
Victor Fang, Obstetrics/Gynecology
Anthony Luciano, Obstetrics/Gynecology
John Nulsen, Obstetrics/Gynecology
Dave Park, Obstetrics/Gynecology
Garry Turner, Obstetrics/Gynecology
William Ehlers, Ophthalmology
Robert Arciero, Orthopaedic Surgery
Augustus Mazzocca, Orthopaedic Surgery
Kevin Shea, Orthopaedic Surgery
Seth Brown, Otolaryngology
Denis Lafreniere, Otolaryngology
Jeffrey Spiro, Otolaryngology
Naveed Hussain, Pediatric Specialist/Neonatal-Perinatal
David Steffens, Psychiatry
Andrew Winokur, Psychiatry
Nausherwan Burki, Pulmonology
Robert Dowsett, Radiation Oncology
David McFadden, Surgery and Surgical Oncology
Peter Albertsen, Urology
Carl Gjertson, Urology
James Menzoian, Vascular Surgery
Pediatrics Faculty at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center
Mary Wu Chang, Dermatology
Karen Rubin, Endocrinology
Henry Feder, Infectious Diseases
Juan Salazar, Infectious Diseases
Edwin Leonard Zalneraitis, Neurology, General
Lawrence Zemel, Rheumatology
Brendan Campbell, Surgery and Thoracic Surgery
Richard Weiss, Surgery
Update: UConn HealthONE
The road to our electronic medical record system, HealthONE, continues full speed ahead. Roberta Luby, assistant vice president for HealthONE, says they’re more than halfway through the “building” phase of the project. They’ve started holding adoption sessions in which managers and key users review the dashboards that will help them manage patient care, quality measures, and financial results. Watch the video to learn how your feedback has played a critical role in the project’s success so far.
Engaging and Educating Patients While They Wait
If you have ever spent time in your doctor’s waiting room, you may have read some well-worn magazines or watched reality TV to pass the time. This is no longer the case at UConn Health.
Recently, new TV monitors were installed in many of the waiting rooms in the Outpatient Pavilion and the Cardiology, Pulmonary and Nephrology waiting rooms in the main building. In partnership with AccentHealth, a healthcare media company that provides a patient engagement solution for physician waiting and exam rooms, UConn Health patients are being educated and empowered to live healthy lives by receiving credible health information.
“The patients in our waiting rooms are watching a television network that provides exclusive programming produced by CNN and co-hosted by CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and HLN Morning News Anchor Robin Meade. AccentHealth also delivers specialty networks that are produced in partnership with the American Cancer Society, Harvard Medical School, and the American Heart Association,” says Vice President of Ambulatory Services Anne Horbatuck. Segments include health news, living well, fitness, nutrition, medical breakthroughs, safety tips, and healthy recipes. In addition to the network programming, patients also view UConn Health produced videos and messaging.
“Patients used to sit down and either check their phones or read a magazine. Now they spend their time in the waiting room learning about health-related topics or getting wellness tips,” says practice manager Kelly Clarke. “The patient feedback has been so positive that we have increased the time the programming is available in our waiting room,” adds Clarke.
Bye-bye, Building 20
There are probably not too many of us mourning the demise of Building 20 – the small wood frame structure that was connected to the back of the main building where the police department is located. While it was drafty and dreary and had no running water (which meant no bathrooms!), it did serve a vital need for office space when it was first constructed in 1990.
Occupancy varied over the ensuing years, but typically served as academic and research-related support space. According to Thomas Trutter, AVP of campus planning, design and construction, “By removing this older, less than desirable structure, we are reducing long-term maintenance costs and the newly renovated space in the main building provides much more energy efficient and better configured office space.”
New Chief Counsel for Health
In January, Brian White will join UConn as chief counsel at UConn Health. In this role he will report to both Richard Orr, vice president and general counsel for the University of Connecticut, and Dr. Andrew Agwunobi, executive vice president for health affairs and CEO of UConn Health.
Currently Brian is associate general counsel for University of Wisconsin Health, a system with six hospitals and over 2,600 faculty physicians. Prior to UW Health, he was in-house counsel for University of Iowa Healthcare for nine years. He began his legal career with a private practice in Chicago after receiving both his JD and BA degrees from the University of Iowa where he continues to serve as adjunct faculty.
“The addition of Brian to the UConn Health leadership team comes at an important time for our organization,” says Dr. Agwunobi. “His experience in academic systems with transactions and physician relationships puts us in a stronger position to be an active part of a changing healthcare landscape across Connecticut.”
“Brian is an important addition to the legal team at UConn. He represents another example of increased collaboration between UConn Health and the rest of the University,” says Orr. “ By enhancing our in-house legal capacity we can reduce our dependence on outside law firms and improve service to internal clients at all of our campuses.”
“Joining an organization with the national reputation of UConn, at a time when they are so poised for success, is an opportunity I could not pass on,” says White. “I look forward to working with the exceptional team already established at UConn Health and furthering the tradition and vision of the academic medical system.”
Brian will be joined in Connecticut by his wife, Alicia, and their four children.
Creative Child Center Carolers
Tiny voices filled the air of the Outpatient Pavilion lobby Tuesday as 15 preschoolers from the Creative Child Center sang some holiday classics to family, staff and passersby. Video by Frank Barton.
Photos by Janine Gelineau.
Successful Surge Drill for ED
UConn Health employees participate in a surge drill in the emergency department at UConn John Dempsey Hospital Nov. 29, 2016.
