News - Security Issues

IRS scam now world's biggest e-mail virus problem

The most prominent spam-delivered virus in the world right now, the IRS scam email accounts for about 10% of the spam email that's currently making the rounds in cyberspace.

The messages typically have a subject line that reads, "Notice of Underreported Income," and they encourage victims to either install the Trojan attachment or click on a Web link in order to view their "tax statement." In fact, that link takes the victim to a malicious Web site.

What makes this scam particularly ugly is that the malware that accompanies the fake IRS messages is a variant of the hard-to-detect Zeus Trojan. This software hacks into bank accounts and drains them of money as part of a widespread financial fraud scheme. Researchers estimate that the Zeus criminals are emptying more than a million dollars per day out of victims' bank accounts with the software.

The IRS says not to open attachments or click on links included in e-mail that claims to come from the tax-collection agency.