IRS Issues Warning for a Scam Targeting Tax Preparers

The Internal Revenue Service IRS has issued a press release addressing a new spear phishing scam targeting tax preparers and other tax professionals. Scam operators often use fraudulent e-mails to entice their targets to reveal login credentials. US-CERT encourages users and administrators to...

Threat Outbreak Alert RuleID11806: Email Messages Distributing Malicious Software on October 1, 2014

Medium Alert ID: 35904 First Published: 2014 October 2 16:11 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages distributing malicious software. Email messages that are related to this threat RuleID11806 may contain the following files: Name |...

Threat Outbreak Alert RuleID10674: Email Messages Distributing Malicious Software on July 15, 2014

Medium Alert ID: 34941 First Published: 2014 July 15 18:18 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages distributing malicious software. Email messages that are related to this threat RuleID10674 may contain the following files: Name | Siz...

Threat Outbreak Alert: Fake Tax Payment Notification Email Messages on April 30, 2014

Medium Alert ID: 34009 First Published: 2014 April 30 19:07 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages that claim to contain a tax payment notification from the Internal Revenue Service for the recipient. The text in the email message...

Threat Outbreak Alert: Fake Tax Refund Notification Email Messages on March 21, 2014

Medium Alert ID: 33457 First Published: 2014 March 21 13:42 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages that claim to contain a tax refund notification for the recipient. The text in the email message attempts to convince the recipient to...

Threat Outbreak Alert: Fake Tax Return Notification Email Messages on March 20, 2014

Medium Alert ID: 33440 First Published: 2014 March 20 19:03 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages that claim to contain a tax refund notification for the recipient. The text in the email message attempts to convince the recipient to...

Threat Outbreak Alert: Fake Tax Refund Notice Email Messages on March 6, 2014

Medium Alert ID: 33231 First Published: 2014 March 6 19:53 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages that claim to contain a tax refund notice for the recipient. The text in the email message attempts to convince the recipient to open t...

Threat Outbreak Alert: Fake Tax Refund Document Email Messages on March 6, 2014

Medium Alert ID: 33224 First Published: 2014 March 6 17:16 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages that claim to contain a tax refund notification for the recipient. The text in the email message attempts to convince the recipient to...

US Tax Season Phishing Scams and Malware Campaigns

In the past, US-CERT has received reports of an increased number of phishing scams and malware campaigns that seek to take advantage of the United States tax season. The Internal Revenue Service has issued an advisory on its website warning consumers about potential scams. Tax season phishing...

Poor Patching, Passwords Plague Government Computers

A damning report on the security of government computers paints an unflattering picture of lax or non-existent patching efforts, poor password policies, configuration errors and a general lack of confidence that exposes critical services and systems to attack. The report, “The Federal Government’...

Threat Outbreak Alert: Fake Tax Payment Notification Email Messages on October 15, 2013

Medium Alert ID: 31286 First Published: 2013 October 16 14:12 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages that claim to contain a tax payment receipt for the recipient. The text in the email message attempts to convince the recipient to...

Threat Outbreak Alert: Fake Tax Report Documentation Email Messages on July 17, 2013

Medium Alert ID: 30125 First Published: 2013 July 18 13:39 GMT Version: 1 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam e-mail messages that claim to contain tax refund information for the recipient. The text in the e-mail message attempts to convince the recipient to...

IRS Exposes Social Security Numbers Online

The Social Security Numbers of tens of thousands of Americans ended up in a searchable public database that provides access to the tax filing applications of Section 527 political organizations on the Internal Revenue Service’s website. According to OpenSecrets.org, 527s are “…tax-exempt groups...

Feds Bust Ukrainian Cybercrime Ring

Federal officials charged eight members of a Ukrainian cybercrime ring this week after they allegedly tried to illegally access the networks of a number of financial institutions including Citibank, JP Morgan Chase, TD Ameritrade and PayPal, along with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Finance and...

GAO: Flaws in IRS Network Could Put Taxpayer Information in Jeopardy

The United States Government Accountability Office GAO believes that “serious weaknesses remain” in the ways that the Internal Revenue Service handles its internal network, problems that could directly implicate taxpayer data according to a report the regulatory group released on Friday. The...

phptax 0.8 - Remote Code Execution

phptax 0.8 - Remote Code Execution ----------------------------------------------------- phptax 0.8 Vendor information: "PhpTax is free software to do your U.S. income taxes. Tested under Unix environment. The program generates .pdfs that can be printed and sent to the IRS. See homepage for detai...

PayPal Revises Privacy Policy, User Agreement Policy

PayPal announced that it is changing both its privacy and user agreement policies, adding tweaks to its customer identification program and the way it collects and stores its customers’ personal information. The changes will take effect on April 1. Under the new policy, Paypal may collect...

U.S. Tax Season Phishing Scams and Malware Campaigns

In the past, US-CERT has received reports of an increased number of phishing scams and malware campaigns that take advantage of the United States tax season. Due to the upcoming tax deadline, US-CERT reminds users to remain cautious when receiving unsolicited email that could be part of a potenti...

IRS Security Deficiencies May Put Taxpayer Data At Risk

Information security failings are making it impossible for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service IRS to get its financial house in order and could be putting taxpayers’ sensitive information at risk, according to a financial audit of the agency by the Government Accountability Office GAO. Deficiencie...

Threat Outbreak Alert: Malicious Tax Return Notification Email Messages on March 19, 2014

Low Alert ID: 23586 First Published: 2011 July 6 14:36 GMT Last Updated: 2014 May 20 12:57 GMT Version: 4 Summary Cisco Security has detected significant activity related to spam email messages that claim to contain a tax return notification for the recipient. The text in the email message attemp...