Today Reuters reported on the US government’s expectations that cyber attacks from North Korea will soon increase. The US government stated in an advisory that it expects these attacks to target financial institutions like banks and tax preparation services. North Korea’s income relies heavily on cyber attacks like the one predicted here. Also, with tax refunds coming as well as the CARES relief package, taxpayers may fall victim to cyber attacks while they try to sort out this confusing tax season. Not only has the IRS changed the due date for taxes from April 15 to July 15, but current social distancing requirements may prevent some from getting the information they need. Especially those that avoid researching on the Internet. These conditions in the US create a lucrative target for North Korea.
Past cyber attacks include ransomware, various bank-related attacks, and cryptocurrency breaches where they likely stole from the most. We don’t know how or if this attack will come, but we see an attack related to the banks distributing the CARES relief package as a likely target due to previous experiences.
When taxpayers start receiving government stimulus checks, look out for anything suspicious. The IRS recently created a page where you can find out more information like when you can expect to get you get your stimulus check at https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments. Currently, parts of the website take a long time to load and some bank websites also fail to respond. We recommend waiting a few days if you can so the IRS and the banks can work on stabilizing the websites.