By Zorian Edwards, Editor-In-Chief
On Oct. 21, the Daemen community received an unexpected email from IT (Information Technology) requiring them to change their login password.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we’re taking additional steps to help protect your account and others from unauthorized access,” the email states.
A week prior to this email, IT caught a phishing email that encouraged students to RSVP to a gala.
“The Office of Information Technology is aware of phishing emails circulating through Daemen email accounts with the subject line ‘Exclusive Grand Gala Invitation from…’ involving a Punchbowl invitation or RSVP,” the email stated. “Do not click links, open the invitation, or respond to the RSVP. If you receive this message, please report it as phishing and delete it.”
The decision to reset passwords came after a recent increase in phishing emails targeting the Daemen community, raising questions about the security of university accounts and what students need to know to protect their information.
“Recently, we’ve had issues with phishing messages and malicious calendar events sent to or from our accounts,” Chris Pack, associate vice president for information security said. “After investigating these events, we decided to err on the side of caution and force a logout and password reset. This helps keep our accounts safe and ensures only the account holder can access them. It has been several years since we last forced a password reset.”
No single incident prompted this change; it was done out of caution. No accounts were compromised.
“A forced password reset had been talked about for some time,” Brian Kenline, director of systems administration and support, said. “With a recent influx of phishing emails and the activity associated with them, we felt it was an appropriate time to require everyone to establish a new password.”
Despite the good intent, this change has caused some issues for students.
“I have recognized an influx of students connecting to the Wi-Fi, both on campus and in the residence buildings…I know that we’ve been slammed with people having Wi-Fi issues because of it,” Echo Clausen-Dixit, a member of Smart Squad, said.
Students were disconnected from all Wi-Fi connections during the reset and are required to reconnect with their new password. If you are experiencing Wi-Fi issues, please contact Smart Squad.
Some students report they were not forced to change their passwords after they were logged out of their Daemen accounts.
“I didn’t have to change my password and I wasn’t prompted to. I was just logged out of all my accounts that are affiliated with Daemen,” sophomore criminal justice and political science major, Gab Soto said.
Despite this, some students changed their passwords anyway.
“While I didn’t have to, I decided to change it because I disliked my whole password,” Nick Martinucci, a junior mathematics major, said. “I made my old password in Fall 2025. I was in a hurry to access my Gmail, so I made one quickly… This reset gave me a chance to get a new password.”
Choosing a unique, secure password is an important step to ensuring the protection of your online data. To ensure the password’s security, the new password was required to be at least 16 characters long.
“Phishing emails can appear to come from people you know, including Daemen professors, staff, and fellow students,” Pack said. “Before clicking any link, take a moment to carefully read the message. If you weren’t expecting the email or something seems unusual, don’t click. When in doubt, verify with the sender through another method.”