US Internal Revenue Service hacked; 100,000 US taxpayers data breached
May 27, 2015 (LBO) –The United States Internal Revenue Service announced Tuesday that it will be notifying taxpayers after third parties gained unauthorized access to information on about 100,000 accounts through an online application called “Get Transcript”.
This data included Social Security information, date of birth and street address, the IRS said in a statement.
“These third parties gained sufficient information from an outside source before trying to access the IRS site, which allowed them to clear a multi-step authentication process, including several personal verification questions that typically are only known by the taxpayer,” the IRS said
“The matter is under continuing review by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and IRS offices, including Criminal Investigation.”
The IRS also noted that this issue does not involve its main computer system that handles tax filing submission and said that system remains secure.