Tip 3: Check for spelling mistakes
Brands are pretty serious about email. Legitimate messages usually do not have major spelling mistakes or poor grammar. Read your emails carefully and report anything that seems suspicious.

Tip 4: Analyze the salutation
Is the email addressed to a vague “Valued Customer?" If so, watch out—legitimate businesses will often use a personal salutation with your first and last name.

Tip 5: Don’t give up personal information
Legitimate banks and most other companies will never ask for personal credentials via email. Don’t give them up.

Tip 6: Beware of urgent or threatening language in the subject line
Invoking a sense of urgency or fear is a common phishing tactic. Beware of subject lines that claim your “account has been suspended” or your account had an “unauthorized login attempt.”

Tip 7: Review the signature
Lack of details about the signer or how you can contact a company strongly suggests a phish. Legitimate businesses always provide contact details.

Tip 8: Don’t click on attachments
Including malicious attachments that contain viruses and malware is a common phishing tactic. Malware can damage files on your computer, steal your passwords or spy on you without your knowledge. Don’t open any email attachments you weren’t expecting.

Tip 9: Don’t trust the header from email address
Fraudsters not only spoof brands in the display name, but also spoof brands in the header from email address. Return Path found that nearly 30% of more than 760,000 email threats spoofed brands somewhere in the header from email address with more than two thirds spoofing the brand in the email domain alone.

Tip 10: Don’t believe everything you see
Phishers are extremely good at what they do. Just because an email has convincing brand logos, language, and a seemingly valid email address, does not mean that it’s legitimate. Be skeptical when it comes to your email messages—if it looks even remotely suspicious, don’t open it.

Bottom Line:  If the email looks strange then don't click on ANYTHING!  Email the person directly if it is a co-worker, log into any online shopping account directly to check on recent orders.  Don't click on anything in the email unless you know for sure.

YouTube Safety 🦺✅

​We get this question a lot as a department:  how can we make YouTube safer for kids?  There are a lot of things out there that promise to make it safer for kids, but in reality they are installing a virus on your computer every time you use it (ViewPure, SafeShare).  Here are some ways to make YouTube safe for all students:

1.  Insert the video in a Google Slideshow

(Remember that all Howe ISD employee's still have a Google Account!)

• Create a Google Slideshow as normal (Click “New” then “Google Slides” when in Drive)
• On one of your slides click “Insert” then “Video”
• Search for your YouTube video or paste in the YouTube link, then click “Select”
• The video will now be inserted into the slide. You can move and resize it as needed.
• You can now let your student view the slideshow (I would recommend clicking “File” then “Publish to the web” to get the link)
• When your students run the slideshow, they can click on the video to watch it right in the slide without any of the ads, comments, or suggested videos found on the normal YouTube page