Warning about phishing attacks on tax prep emails

Post date: Mar 20, 2018 6:48:27 PM

With tax season underway, a cybersecurity advocacy group is warning that vendors of popular tax preparation tools may be unprepared to protect users from phishing scams.

Four out of the eight most popular tax preparation software products don’t employ basic protections against email spoofing, according to testing by the cybersecurity nonprofit Global Cyber Alliance.

GCA tested the domains of the popular programs to check what settings they employ under the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC) protocol. DMARC is an industry standard designed to detect and prevent email spoofing.

GCA’s findings, released last week, are as follows:

• Reject: Liberty Tax

• Quarantine: Credit Karma, Jackson Hewitt and Tax Slayer

• None: Free Tax USA and Turbo Tax

• No policy: H&R Block and TaxAct

MORE INFO, See https://www.cyberscoop.com/tax-prep-software-dmarc-turbotax-hr-block/