From Associated Press:
APNewsBreak: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000
Thieves used an online service provided by the IRS to gain access to information from more than 100,000 taxpayers, the agency said Tuesday.
The information included tax returns and other tax information on file with the IRS.
The IRS said the thieves accessed a system called "Get Transcript." In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address.
"We're confident that these are not amateurs," said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
Koskinen said the agency was alerted to the thieves when technicians noticed an increase in the number of taxpayers seeking transcripts.
The IRS said they targeted the system from February to mid-May. The service has been temporarily shut down.
Three and a half months that the system had consistently higher volumes and nobody bothered to check the traffic? If this was a commercial IT group, someone would be fired for incompetence.
Wonder if they found any of Lois Lerner's emails...
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