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IRS Offers Up Stupid Redirect Links To Help Phishers Steal Money
from the our-tax-money-at-work dept
Too many sites that are trying to track what people click on when leaving a site offer up "open redirect links" which basically let's a site append an outside URL to the end of one of its own URLs and have traffic flow right through to that second site. This may be useful in easily tracking what links people click on to leave a site, but they're also perfect for phishing scammers, who use them to trick people into believing that they're going to a legitimate site. And, what better site to scam people than the IRS's site? Turns out that the IRS's special govbenefits.gov site uses open redirects that phishers are already using to steal money. They convince people they're going to the IRS site, when they're simply passing right through to the scammer's site. Our tax money at work. Update: Good point made in the comments. The site itself is not actually the IRS's but another government agency's. The scam, however, is about a tax refund.
Reader Comments
(Flattened / Threaded)
Finally!
Finally our tax moneys doing some good!
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Heh
*scarcasm* At least its helping someone...
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No Subject Given
The IRS steals money anyway. Seams like they are just trying to expand their horizons.
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It doesn't look like this is the IRS' fault
The site with the open redirect is www.govbenefits.gov, not the IRS site (www.irs.gov). The article says the site is managed by the Department of Labor (of which the IRS is not part). I see nothing on the govbenefits site to contradict that. The "MEET THE MANAGEMENT TEAM" link introduces us to the "Assistant Secretary for Administration and Managemen1t at the Department of Labor".
(I love the job titles. The head of an Administration (FAA, NASA, etc.) has the title of "Administrator". Somewhere in the federal government there's got to be an Administrative Assistant to the Assistant Administrator for Administration. . .)
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Re: It doesn't look like this is the IRS' fault
The site with the open redirect is www.govbenefits.gov, not the IRS site (www.irs.gov).
Good point. I updated the post with that info.
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No Subject Given
i know that sometimes we attack the wrong end of these things, but it's my turn. i don't think it's the technology's fault, but the random dumbass that clicks a link that says they have a tax refund they need to pick up. how dumb do you have to be? considering how mainstream the phishing idea is and how much plublicity it attains, do people really still click? i'd like to think that number is right next to zero.
the flip side to that is trying to blame the IRS. maybe we should be more concerned with webmaster and not the content owner; after all, the webmaster decided to not use keywords or make the page smart enough not to accept external requests for the page
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Something about a pot and a kettle
Isn't this a bit hypocritical?
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Re: Something about a pot and a kettle
OMG that's amazing! You rule SB!
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And I will never ever ever ever ever write a song about Sibbie.
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Re: Something about a pot and a kettle
You reallllllly need to include the link to that email. Now I HAVE to listen to that song again.
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ummm. this was a flaw on the govebenefits site not the irs.
could you not see that in the link? by your definition, I could change the target and say "tech dirt offers up stupid redirect to help phishers steal money"
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