http://www.computerworld.com/article/2972252/cybercrime-hacking/irs-says-data-breach-was-worse-than-thought.html
By Katherine Noyes
IDG News Service
Aug 17, 2015
The cyberattack on U.S. taxpayer data reported by the Internal Revenue
Service earlier this year now appears to be much worse than originally
thought, the agency announced Monday, with as many as 300,000 citizens now
believed to be potential victims.
Whereas in May the IRS reported that sensitive information of about
roughly 100,000 taxpayers had been stolen by thieves through its "Get
Transcript" online application, its latest estimates more than double that
number. It's now believed that the thieves potentially gained access to
more than 300,000 taxpayer accounts after attempting to breach more than
600,000.
To gain access to the information, the thieves first stole information
including Social Security details, dates of birth and street addresses
from an outside, non-IRS source. They then used that information to clear
a multistep authentication process in the app and access personal tax data
on the IRS site.
The Get Transcript app was shut down in May.
[...]
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