For the past week the Cosine mail relay has been the target of a brute force attack. This means hackers are attempting to log into the Cosine outgoing mail server using valid usernames, but are guessing at the password. This is dramatically increasing the number of log in requests to our server and can impact performance. To help reduce the load on the servers Cosine is implementing a lockout policy for failed login attempts. If an incorrect username or password is used too often, the IP address in question will be banned for a period of time. If a second set of login failures occur, the IP address will be banned for a longer period of time.
What can you do to help?
Please be cautious of Phishing attempts, or social engineering to obtain your username and password. No legitimate IT group will ask you for your username and password or send you a link to where it asks you to log in. Pay attention for clues by checking the address of linked pages and verify that URLs match what the text in the email describes. Ensure that you have a strong password and change it regularly.
Microsoft has an excellent webpage that shows how to recognize Phishing emails: http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/phishing-symptoms.aspx
Microsoft also provides a reference for creating a strong password: https://support.microsoft.com/windows
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