DarkFiber Consulting – IT Managed Services

DarkFiber Consulting is aware of reports of tax season phishing scams. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has issued a news release on its website warning consumers about potential scams. These scams are circulating via fraudulent email or other online messages appearing to come from the IRS. They attempt to convince consumers to reveal personal and financial information that can be used to gain access to bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial institutions.

DarkFiber Consulting encourages users to do the following to mitigate the risks:

• Review the How to Report and Identify Phishing, E-mail Scams and Bogus IRS Web Sites document on the IRS website.
• Do not follow unsolicited web links received in email messages.
• Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on social engineering attacks.
• Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks (pdf) document for more information on social engineering attacks.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released a public notice alerting users of a potential phishing attack. The notice indicates that non-government entities may be using websites to misdirect regulatory fee payers to an illegitimate website in an attempt to obtain their financial information.

DarkFiber Consulting encourages users to review the FCC public notice (pdf) and refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document for more information on social engineering attacks.

DarkFiber Consulting is aware of public reports of a phishing attack circulating via email messages that appear to be targeting Apple MobileMe users. These messages claim that there is a problem with the user’s billing information and instruct the user to follow a web link to update personal information. Clicking on this link directs the user to a web page that contains a seemingly legetimate web form requesting personal and financial information. Any information entered in this form is not sent to Apple but rather, to a malicious attacker.

DarkFiber Consulting encourages users to do the following to help mitigate the risks:

• Do not follow unsolicited web links in email messages.
• Use caution when entering sensitive information online.
• Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on avoiding email scams.
• Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document for more information on social engineering attacks.