As we begin March, tax season is now well underway for Michigan small businesses. Not only have you already sent tax documents to your employees, but the business itself may be in tax season too.
What cybersecurity dangers are there with tax season though? For the next month, join us as we discuss the multiple dangers to small businesses during this time of the year!
Data theft spikes📈
This tax season there is an expectation of an increase of data theft using the Quickbooks product. ThreatPost is reporting a new malware designed to exfiltrate data from Quickbooks.
ThreatPost states there are two methods cybercriminals are using to spread the malware, “The first is to send a PowerShell command to exfiltrate the data; and the second is to use a Word document to deliver a link or macro to retrieve a file.”
What you can do
With both methods of attack, access to your device is necessary. Access does not mean they need to have physical access, but digital access. This means getting you to install the malware. This will typically be done via phishing emails or malicious websites.
Phishing awareness
KnowBe4 explains phishing as “the process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity using bulk email which tries to evade spam filters.”
Here are a few important questions you can ask yourself if you suspect someone is phishing your small business:
If you answer yes to any of these, try and verify the sender is legitimate prior to interacting with the email.
Fake Websites
Fake websites can sometimes be rather difficult to detect. Oftentimes they are made to look like the real thing, with only subtle differences. These subtle differences may not be easy to spot. Here are a few important questions you can ask yourself if you suspect a website might be fake:
- Can you verify the legitimacy of the URL?
- Did you click a link to get to the website, whether from an email or on another website?
- If you copy and paste the URL into another tab, does it show the same URL as on the other tab?
Protecting your small business’s tax data can be tricky but it is important to be cautious in order to protect it!
For more information on cybersecurity, checkout smallbizbigthreat.com for more.