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“Purdue Emergency Notification” Loophole

Today I received an email from Purdue News:

Purdue students, faculty and staff should assume that the university will operate as usual on Friday (Feb. 1). However, a winter storm warning is in effect for Tippecanoe and surrounding counties. Information about conditions on campus and any changes in university operations will be posted online at www.purdue.edu and with the university’s Emergency Notification group on Facebook. Please monitor these sites, as well as local news media for updates.

Note the email does not have a link to the said Purdue Facebook group and, as far as I know, Purdue has never supplied a link. In fact, Purdue has not even supplied the full name of the Facebook group. Someone could set up a Facebook group with a similar name as a phishing group, such as “Official Purdue Emergency Notification” or “Purdue University Emergency Notification.” This is a horrible way for Purdue to be delivering critical information. Essentially, anyone could cancel class.

I’m extremely impressed! Ms. Shelby, the creator of the Purdue Facebook group, has (kind of) rectified the situation. A little more than an hour after this post was made at 10pm, she replied with the official Purdue Emergency Notification Facebook group link. Incredible diligence!
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  • http://purdue.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2359887158 Carol Shelby

    Hello! I am the creator of this group. Here is the link for the group: http://purdue.facebook.com/group.php?gid=235988…
    It is called Purdue Emergency Notification. It is an open group to anyone in the Purdue Network. No one can post to the site except the administrators. It has been very effective in getting word out to the members of the group. It is just one of many layers of the Purdue Alert system. Feel free to contact me from the Facebook group site if you would like to discuss this further.
    Thank you,
    Carol Shelby

  • http://humani.st Luke Hoersten

    Thanks for the quick response! I hope it’s clear why this is a security risk and that you have adequate resources to correctly direct students to the Purdue Facebook group. There should be a simple way to verify the group is correct on an authoritative source such as Purdue.edu. Also, searching “site:purdue.edu facebook” should result in some kind of clue as to which Purdue Facebook group is the official one. Just let me know if you need help arranging this.

  • http://agoln.net ljbuesch

    If you look at the new message, they have just updated the message to include the link to the post. Good catch Luke!

    <quote>
    …changes in university operations will be posted online at http://www.purdue.edu and with the university’s Emergency Notification group on Facebook at http://purdue.facebook.com/group.php?gid=235988…
    </quote>

  • http://agoln.net ljbuesch

    If you look at the new message, they have just updated the message to include the link to the post. Good catch Luke!

    <quote>
    …changes in university operations will be posted online at http://www.purdue.edu and with the university's Emergency Notification group on Facebook at http://purdue.facebook.com/group.php?gid=235988…
    </quote>