Many have already received an email from one or more of the companies affected — whether a major bank, travel or retail site or even TiVo — alerting customers that an email was exposed, while noting other information such as passwords remain safe.

As always, the Office of Information Technology urges close scrutiny of email messages. As a result of this recent compromise, spam messages may appear to be from a trusted company. 

OIT recommends that users bookmark financial institutions, store accounts, the OIT password change page, Techworks, Banner and any other websites that have critical account information.

Emails from Georgia Tech email addresses that ask for your account information or password are never legitimate. Any user who receives such an email should not click on the link or respond. To report any inappropriate activity, visit http://web-archive.oit.gatech.edu/information_security/report_incidents.