Threat Outbreak Alert: Fake Tax Notification Email Messages on April 7, 2014

Medium

Alert ID:

33686

First Published:

2014 April 8 13:16 GMT

Version:

1

Summary

• Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages that claim to contain a tax notification for the recipient. The email message attempts to convince the recipient to open the attachment and view the details. However, the .zip attachment contains a malicious_ .scr_ file that, when executed, attempts to infect the system with malicious code.

Email messages that are related to this threat (RuleID9523) may contain the following files:

> _ST-809.scr
ST-809.zip _

The ST-809.scr in the ST-809.zip file has a file size of 18,944 bytes. The MD5 checksum, which is a unique identifier of the executable, is the following string: 0x4FFD3A23677B25E0F83689C791E277C0

The following text is a sample of the email message that is associated with this threat outbreak:

> Message Body:

The Tax Department’s Sales Tax Web File service is the easiest and fastest way to file your sales tax returns. Use Sales Tax Web File to file ST-809 - State and Local Sales and Use Tax Return for Part-Quarterly (Monthly) Filers. The next return due date is April 20, 2014.
Sales Tax Web File also allows you the flexibility to schedule your payments up until the due date. From the Account Summary Home page of your Online Services Account, you can access the sales tax web file service in the Services section on the left.
You must file a sales tax return even if you have had no taxable sales, no taxable purchases, or no credits to report. You will be subject to penalties if you don’t file a return.
Through our Online Services, you can also receive messages about your account.
To sign up for email alerts:
- Log in to Online Services account
- Select “Manage email” from “Account Preferences” at the top of the page
If you have questions, please visit our Web site: www.tax.gov
Please disregard this notification if you have already filed required tax document(s).
Please do not reply to this email. Replies are routed to an unmonitored mailbox, so we don’t read them or respond. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance will never contact you by email to ask you to validate personal information such as your username, password, or account numbers.

Cisco Security analysts examine real-world email traffic data that is collected from over 100,000 contributing organizations worldwide. This data helps provide a range of information about and analysis of global email security threats and trends. Cisco will continue to monitor this threat and automatically adapt systems to protect customers. This report will be updated if there are significant changes or if the risk to end users increases.

Cisco security appliances protect customers during the critical period between the first exploit of a virus outbreak and the release of vendor antivirus signatures. Email that is managed by Cisco and end users who are protected by Cisco Web Security Appliances will not be impacted by these attacks. Cisco security appliances are automatically updated to prevent both spam email and hostile web URLs from being passed to the end user.

Related Links
Cisco Security
Cisco SenderBase Security Network

Revision History

* Version	Description	Section	Date
1	Initial Release		2014-April-08 13:16 GMT
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