Malware finds another hiding spot in the tax documents

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» 29 March 2010

Malware finds another hiding spot in the tax documents

The popular and harmful Zeus malware was discovered to have been hiding in various US tax documents.

Kevin Liston, researcher of Sans, said that their organization was flooded with abundant reports regarding e-mails that were deemed to have been sent by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of United States.

Fake documents harms computer systems

Contained in these e-mails is the information that tells a user of his or her underreported income on various tax statements. Also, the users are encouraged to download from the link provided therein and run the file once the download is finished. The file is actually an application, which can endanger computer system since it is injected with the Zeus malware.

Overused scheme still works on users

Experts believe that this method being used by online criminals is already worn-out since this has been used to scam many individuals even during the past. According to reports, users in United States and United Kingdom were discovered to have been attacked using social engineering malwares taking the form of tax-related documents sent by the concerned agencies.

However, IRS confirmed that their agency does not send such kinds of delicate documents via webmail. In addition, this government department tells the online users that they should not entertain these e-mails, which are using their name in order to carry out illegal activities.

Stealing of confidential information with malware

Online crooks use this method with the aim of harming the systems of the users using the Zeus malware. The Zeus malware is popular for its ability to locally edit HTML files on the user’s computer system. Once this is accomplished, the previously safe web pages will develop into phishing sites. The user’s private information will become susceptible and the person will not even be aware that his or her confidential data are already stolen.

But then, the authorities are already acting against this widespread malware. Malware activities are currently being observed by the security community and they will inform the internet service providers once they discover any shady activities. The ISPs will then work by persuading the servers to shut down their hosted botnets.

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