We are entering the last few days of the US personal income tax season. The filing deadline April 15th is just about a week away. So far, it has been not to busy when it came to scams. But here a few things to watch out for:

• fake e-file websites. Only use reputable companies. I did a quick check earlier and didn't see any obvious fakes on Google, but this may change at any time.
• IRS e-mails: The IRS will never send you an e-mail asking you to go to a website to get a refund.
• malicous tax preparation software: Don't just download the next best free tax prep software package.
• and once you are all done: Make good offline backups. If you used tax preparation software, burn a couple CDs with your files and don't forget to retain a copy of the software itself so you can read the files later. Keep a paper copy. This includes supporting electronic files like account software and spread sheets that you may use to track finances.

If you come across any suspect websites, let us know.

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Johannes B. Ullrich, Ph.D.
SANS Technology Institute     http://twitter.com/johullrich