Phishing Attacks Increasing During Tax Season

Information Technology Services at the University of Nebraska and the Cybersecurity & Identity team reminds all university members to be wary of phishing attempts, particularly during the current tax season when personally identifiable information is transferred through W-2s and other tax-related business.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) issued an alert Tuesday, Feb. 21, due to an increase in W-2-related phishing campaigns. Attackers often use tax-related phishing emails to lure victims into providing personally identifiable information, clicking on malicious links or paying a ransom.

According to the alert, attackers commonly impersonate an executive through a compromised or spoofed email in an attempt to obtain W-2 information from Human Resource (HR) professionals from the same organization. While criminals have focused their attacks on mass data thefts, they may still target Individual taxpayers.

The IC3 alert notes, "The IRS doesn't initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information. Any contact from the IRS will be in response to a contact initiated by you. Criminals, when they learn of a new IRS process, often create false IRS websites and IRS impersonation emails."

Remember, the university will never ask you for your login or passwords or other personal information.

If you have any questions or need to report a security issue please contact the Office of Cybersecurity and Identity at its-sec@nebraska.edu.

For more information, see the official IC3 alert.