First published: 11th October 2013
The Hong Kong Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has issued an alert about fraudulent emails with the sender's address domain of @ird.gov.hk. Files with names like "Form_ird.gov.hk.zip", "File_2183065.zip", or "File_4730881.zip" are attached to the messages. The attachments are infected with computer viruses. The IRD has no connection with the messages, and the Police are investigating.
Allan Dyer, Yui Kee's Chief Consultant, commented, "At one time, malicious software was most often found in emails promising celebrity photos. Nowadays, criminals have broadened their scope; many messages target business users by mentioning quotations, purchase orders or, as in this case, government departments. Defence in depth is your friend here. Your email gateway can recognise many of these as suspicious, your endpoint anti-virus might detect the infection, but ultimately, the last line of defence is you, the user, recognising the message is not what it seems. Think before clicking."