UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Email is a significant entry point for malicious activity targeting University systems and accounts. As phishing and other email-based attacks grow more sophisticated, Penn State is continuing to strengthen protections to safeguard users and institutional data. As part of these efforts, Penn State IT Information Security will enable the Abnormal AI email security platform for all Penn State email accounts beginning on Monday, July 27.

Abnormal AI uses advanced detection capabilities to identify incoming phishing, spam and other malicious messages. Suspicious emails will be automatically routed to the Junk folder or the Recoverable Items/Deletions folder, depending on risk level. For directions on how to see what is in the Recoverable Items folder and how to move items out of it, please see the Abnormal Email Security Knowledge Base article for complete guidance.

"Information Security is taking this important step to stop sophisticated email attacks that can cause harm to our University community," said Holly Swires, Penn State's chief information security officer and chief privacy officer. "Abnormal AI will provide important protections to defend against email attacks and ultimately protect all email account users as well as University systems and accounts."

As the platform is added, it is important to note no action is required by users to enable this tool. Questions can be directed to ITservicedesk@psu.edu.

Abnormal AI was piloted within the IT Community prior to this broader rollout.