The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) said that hackers accessed the personal information of approximately 100,000 tax payers in what the agency is calling a “sophisticated” attack. You can find the IRS’s official message about the breach HERE. The IRS said that criminals managed to access data such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth and street addresses from an outside source, allowing them to clear a multi-step authentication process to gain access to its “Get Transcript” online app.
The application, which allows users to access past tax returns, has been temporarily shut down, and the IRS will offer free credit monitoring to those affected. The matter is now under review by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration as well as the IRS’s Criminal Investigation unit. The agency said the hack did not involve its main computer system, which handles tax filing submissions.
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Statement-on-the-Get-Transcript-Application
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Statement-on-the-Get-Transcript-Application
Datalossdb.org listed this breach showing roughly 104,000 tax accounts. Below is the latest update from their website. Check out Datalossdb.org for more details.
