Concerning email from entrepreneurship trip organizer reported as hack
Director of TigerTrek, a popular spring break trip, was targeted by email spoofing
An email spoofing the address of New York TigerTrek’s Director, Theodor Marcu ’20, was sent to an Entrepreneurship Club listserv at 3:05 PM Friday.
It read as follows:
“Hey team,
Keep spamming those emails. We want more people to apply so our acceptance rate is lower and all of this looks more legit. Don't worry we will make sure that you guys are selected anyways.”
New York TigerTrek is a popular spring break trip run by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Club and sponsored by Princeton’s Computer Science Department, SEAS, and Career Services among others. A cohort of twenty students visit New York for the week and meet with startup leaders, including Justin Connolly, EVP at ESPN and Disney, and Jennifer Hyman, the CEO of Rent the Runway.
Marcu sent out an email eight minutes later explaining that the prior email was fake, saying he suspected it was sent by a member of the entrepreneurship club. Late Friday night, Entrepreneurship Club Presidents Christina Huang ’18, Samhita Karnati ’18, and Shreyas Garg ’19 said on their listserv that they were in contact with OIT.
Analysis of the raw header of the email revealed it was originally sent from an address at emkei.cz, a website that facilitates the sending of fake emails, known as spoofing. The motive behind this apparent attempt to discredit Theodor and TigerTrek remains unclear.
"We believe this trip to be a fantastic experience for all Princeton students, regardless of background/course of study, and this is what drove our marketing push this year," Marcu said.