Add University of the Southwest to your list of those notifying current and former employees that their W-2 or payroll information was accessed without authorization from their vendor, Greenshades. But don’t jump to conclude that the fault is with Greenshades, because the tax filing vendor says the problem is not with them.
Following up on previous breach reports, DataBreaches.net had contacted Greenshades on Tuesday to ask for an update on all the reports concerning what Greenshades had declared was not their breach. Their security team did not answer the question as to how many of their clients have reported problems or reports of tax refund fraud, but informed DataBreaches.net:
Just like many companies with employment information, Greenshades is aware of
increased tax fraud and has received reports that certain employees have
experienced tax fraud. Greenshades is conducting an ongoing investigation,
which includes retention of an independent forensics firm. While our
investigation is not complete, preliminary findings show that:* There is no evidence of any breach of Greenshades’ network-in other words,
there is no evidence that any network vulnerability has been misused to access
employee credentials* There is no evidence of access to any employee account on Greenshades’
network without use of valid employee credentials.It would be premature to comment on lessons learned as we continue to work
with our customers to address the situation.
In March, Greenshades had posted a blog entry in response to earlier breach reports by clients. On April 13, they issued a second statement, warning clients to beware of email phishing schemes that used Greenshades name:
Greenshades today became aware of a new email phishing scam that has NOT originated from Greenshades or its partners. These fake emails claim to be sent by Greenshades and demand that the reader click a link and provide security information. NOTE: These emails are neither condoned by nor approved of by Greenshades.
At this time, then, there continues to be no evidence of any breach of Greenshades’ system, but its clients’ employees continue to report problems that may be the result of weak security practices such as easy-to-guess or easy-to-find login credentials or falling for a phishing email.