Important: IT security

To the friends and members of the LP:

We care about your privacy as much as you do, and that is the purpose of this email.  Please take a moment to read this.

Someone has been sending fake emails that claim to be from LP National staff and/or LNC members. We also have reports of this happening at the state affiliate level as well.  We cannot stop these fake emails because we’re not sending them.

Sometimes it’s a link to a website that has malware.  Other times, it’s an email asking you to open an attachment, and those attachments are sometimes password protected to get around your virus scan protection.  If you are not expecting a file from LP National, or from anyone for that matter, do not open attachments.  LP National rarely sends attachments to email.

As a reminder, please do not send personal information through email.  Our web forms on our websites use encrypted communications and store information in a way that protects data.  Email is generally sent “plain text” – meaning anyone can read it if they can intercept it – and therefore it should not be used to send any Personally Identifying Information (PII) through unencrypted mechanisms like e-mail.

At the affiliate level, we see multiple attempts of people trying to send fake invoices to the treasurer of an affiliate.  Treasurers: please be extra careful!  And if you’re a member, please don’t send your credit card information by email to anyone!  A web form is usually safe, and they are from LP.org.

If you’re not expecting an attachment from someone, don’t open it!

And when in doubt – pick up the phone and call!  A personal contact and a question of “did you send this?” is much better than the clean-up required after a fake/scam email.

Ken C. Moellman, Jr.
LNC IT Security Project Manager

, ,