Businesses targeted by shipping and IRS phishing spam
Friday, September 18, 2009
Small and mid-sized businesses have become a major target for spammers and online fraudsters who set up phishing websites to steal personal information and even get into company bank accounts.
Web security researchers have seen a recent surge in spam targeting businesses that could infect company computers with Trojan malware that can steal bank website account information. Phishing spam using people's real names scraped from websites like social networks puprots to come from legitimate organizations like UPS or the IRS.
Patrick Taylor, CEO of Oversight Systems, received a fake IRS email recently that was addressed to him by name and included a mention of one of his employee's names accusing the employee of under-reporting the company's income, according to a report by USA Today.
The message contained a link to resolve the issue, but Taylor was naturally suspicious because he runs an anti-fraud company. An analysis of the email by a security company found that the link went to a malware infected website.
Trojans - malware that disguises itself as legitimate software - can steal vital information once installed on PCs. The Zues and Clampi Trojans have reportedly victimized businesses by stealing bank account information. 
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