As if tax season wasn't bad enough as it is, a new report suggests that searching online for help may leave you with a malware infection every bit as bad as an IRS audit.

F-Secure has spotted a rash of new attacks pushing rogue anti-malware; utilities that claim to protect your computer for a small fee, but in fact do nothing of the sort. The malware attacks have been embedded into pages that have been search-engine optimised for commonly-used search queries on tax matters.

In other words, doing a web search for tax help could lead you to a malicious web site offering bogus security software.

Rogue antimalware products aren't anything new, neither is search engine optimisation. In fact, similar attacks have been spotted in the past around both the US and UK tax filing deadlines. When people are stressed, tired and looking for tax help online, they can be tricked into downloading and installing malware.

So, if while looking for last-minute tax advice in the next few days you see a strange warning dialogue or fishy software offer, don't fall for it and if you suspect your system to be infected, stick to trusted and reliable vendors and download sites.

16 Apr 2010