Unsolicited Email Regarding IT Certification Courses

[Rodney Petersen <rpetersen () EDUCAUSE EDU>]

We have been notified that many members of the higher education IT
community have received an email with the subject heading "[first name],
I need your help."  The message goes on to describe online IT
certification courses available to EduCause (sic) members.  EDUCAUSE
Vice President Cynthia Golden who is in charge of professional
development said, "EDUCAUSE has not negotiated any agreement with this
individual or company.  We never heard of them and absolutely have not
entered into any kind of arrangements.  This is in no way legitimate.
We will be contacting them to cease and desist."

We have notified this individual to "cease and desist" and strongly
condemn the unauthorized use of the EDUCAUSE brand for a solicitation of
this kind.  As we observe National Cyber Security Awareness Month, this
incident reminds me of several useful precautionary steps that users
should take to avoid potential scams or fraud.  Most notably in this
case, individuals should delete the message and not follow-up using the
phone number(s) or email address provided to avoid any inappropriate
harvesting of personal information.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

Regards,

-Rodney

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Rodney J. Petersen, J.D.
Government Relations Officer & Security Task Force Coordinator

EDUCAUSE
1150 18th Street, N.W., Suite 1010
Washington, D.C. 20036
(202) 331-5368 / (202) 872-4200
(202) 872-4318 (FAX) 
EDUCAUSE/Internet2 Security Task Force
www.educause.edu/security
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October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month!
www.StaySafeOnline.org