Epsilon Data Breach May Affect You

As you may have heard, an email marketing company, Epsilon, leaked a large number of names and email addresses affecting the customers of their clients. Intuit is not an Epsilon customer so the information you have entrusted with Intuit is not affected. However, Epsilon serves many large organizations including banks, insurance companies and retailers. This will affect a large number of people. Even though Intuit was not an Epsilon customer and not directly affected, you may have received one or more notices from companies you do business with who are clients of Epsilon.

Below are some tips for those who were affected, and best practices to always use even if you weren't affected.

Epsilon has stated that the data leaked were primarily names and email addresses. This data can be used for phishing and malware distribution. Remember, never open an attachment or click on a link in an email you are not expecting, is from someone you do not know or even looks slightly suspicious. If you are unsure about an email, delete it - do not forward it or reply.

To brush up on the best ways to protect yourself from a phishing attack, read these phishing prevention tips and information about how to recognize phishing.

Information

On the Internet, "phishing" refers to criminal activity that attempts to fraudulently obtain sensitive information. There are several ways a scam artist will try to obtain your social security number, driver's license, credit card information, or bank account information. Here is our QuickBooks Online commitment to you, as well as some steps you can take to make sure your data is safe and secure.

Our commitment to you:

What we won't do

1. We will never send you an email with a "software update" or "software download" attachment.
2. We will never send you an email asking you for login or password information to be sent to us.
3. We will never ask you for your banking information or credit card information in an email. We will never ask you for confidential information about your employees in an email.

What we'll do

1. We will provide you with instructions on how to stay current with your Intuit product, and we will provide you with information on how to securely download an update from your computer.
2. If we need you to update your account information, we will request that you do so by logging into your account.

Here's what you can do to protect yourself from a phishing attack:

1. If you suspect you have received a phishing email from Intuit, please forward it immediately to spoof@intuit.com. We will look into each reported instance.
2. Make sure you subscribe to an anti-virus software and keep it up-to-date.
3. Make sure you have updated your web browser to one that includes anti-phishing security features, such as Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox version 3 or higher
4. Make sure that you keep up to date on the latest releases and patches for your operating systems and critical programs. These releases are frequently security related.
5. Do not respond to emails asking for account, password, banking, or credit card information.
6. Do not open up an attachment that claims to be a software update. We will not send any software updates via email.
7. Make sure you have passwords on your computer and your payroll files.

Here are 3 common methods that phishers use in their emails

1. Spoofed email address.Don't reply to unsolicited email and don't open email attachments. It's easy to fake a From or Reply To address, either manually or with spam software, so never assume an email is real by looking at its header. You might be able to spot fake addresses by checking for domain name misspellings, but this isn't foolproof. Some email service providers combat the problem of spoofed addresses by using authentication techniques to verify a sender's integrity.
2. Fake link.When in doubt, never click on a link in an unsolicited or suspicious email. Scam emails can contain a hidden link to a site that asks you to enter your log on and account information. A clue: if the email threatens you with account closure if you don't log on soon, you could be the target of phishing. You may be able to tell if a link is real by moving your mouse over it and looking at the bottom of your browser to see the hidden Web address - it will look different than the one you see on the surface.
3. Forged Website.If you must visit a financial site, like your bank or credit card company, enter its known address into the browser location field manually. Use a browser with an anti-phishing plug-in or extension, like FireFox version 3 or higher or Internet Explorer 7. These browsers warn you about forged, high-risk sites. Phony Web sites mimic real sites by copying company logos, images, and site designs. Malicious webmasters can also use HTML, Flash or Java Script to mask or change a browser address.