Idaho tax commission suffers phishing attack

The Idaho State Tax Commission is tightening its internal procedures after a sophisticated e-mail phishing attack compromised an employee’s e-mail account Wednesday.

The Tax Commission says it neutralized the threat within an hour of the incident. Information from 36 taxpayers was in the employee’s e-mail and they are being notified that their information may have been compromised. At this time, the commission cannot confirm that any information from the employee’s e-mail was accessed.

The compromised account was also used to send a phishing e-mail to 103 outside contacts. Those people, too, are being notified about the scheme.

According to the Tax Commission, the phishing scheme was a new type of attack not yet seen by antivirus software providers. It was received from an outside small business that was unaware it had been compromised. The commission is working with its antivirus software vendor to help identify the scheme and prevent future attacks.

In addition to tightening its security, the agency will also be providing more employee education to make security a top priority.