The Office of Security & Policy at Ball State University attempts to provide a high degree of uniqueness to the e-mail notices and BSU specific information making it less likely that the hoaxes and virus generated messages will be mistaken as legitimate.  Often virus generated e-mails direct users to install a "patch" or other "update" attached to the e-mail message itself.  Another familiar ploy is to direct the user to an unfamiliar, remote web site to obtain an "update".  The Office of Security & Policy provides extra protection against such virus generated e-mail, and prevent successful "phishing" expeditions.  Some of the measures taken include: 

• New e-mails from the security team include the official BSU logo and custom BSU-specific graphics.  While it is certainly possible for a virus to include such "visual markers" it is unlikely that a virus would do so since it would by necessity need to be targeted at Ball State specifically.  This is of course rather unlikely.  Review the bottom of this article for examples of the Security & Policy graphics.
• Official BSU Security e-mail messages, by design, include many references to Ball State in the context of the warning or direction being given and discuss the BSU circumstances surrounding the alert or warning. Again, it is unlikely that any virus would include such references since they would need to be specific to BSU.
• Legitimate warnings include references not just to BSU.EDU, but rather the security web site, to University Computing Services, and to the Office of Security & Policy within UCS.  Once again for a virus to include such detailed BSU references it would be necessary to tailor the message to BSU's users, which is not likely.