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IRS Hack Shows Government Safeguards Not Up-to-Date

The IRS said whoever was behind the scheme tried to breach the online system called Get Transcript — where taxpayers can get filings from previous years — 200,000 times.

(TNS) -- A hacking attack on an IRS database that exposed sensitive personal information of more than 100,000 taxpayers to fraudsters is “unacceptable,” according to a cybersecurity expert, who suggests the government is not up-to-date when it comes to safeguarding such information.

The IRS yesterday said whoever was behind the elaborate scheme to steal identities and claim fraudulent tax refunds tried to breach the online system called Get Transcript — where taxpayers can get returns and other filings from previous years — 200,000 times.

“It is self-evident they have a problem. A 50 percent hacking rate is beyond the reasonable bounds,” said Anthony Roman, president of Roman & Associates, a global investigation and risk management firm. “The Chinese, the Russians and the Iranians have been quite successfully attempting breaches into government networks and secured classified and private information on an ongoing basis. It would appear to me, the U.S. is somewhat behind the curve with regards to computer security. ... Fifty percent is unacceptable.”

To access the IRS system, hackers needed to provide some of the taxpayer’s information, including name, date of birth and Social Security number.

Roman said due to the size of the operation and the vast amount of data needed to carry it out, this “phishing”-style attack is likely the work of a large group of hackers and not a single rogue criminal.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen wouldn’t say whether investigators believe the criminals are based overseas — or where they obtained enough personal information about the taxpayers to access their returns. The IRS has launched a criminal investigation. The agency’s inspector general is also investigating.

“We’re confident that these are not amateurs,” Koskinen said. “These actually are organized crime syndicates that not only we, but everybody in the financial industry are dealing with.”

Identity thieves have stepped up their efforts in recent years to claim fraudulent tax refunds. The agency estimates it paid out ?$5.8 billion in fraudulent refunds to identity thieves in 2013.

“Eighty percent of the identity theft we’re dealing with and refund fraud is related to organized crime here and around the world,” Koskinen said. “These are extremely sophisticated criminals with access to a tremendous amount of data.”

The IRS said it is notifying taxpayers whose information was accessed.

©2015 the Boston Herald. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.