Wednesday, May 27, 2015

IRS Breach Puts Spotlight on the Internet's 'Costco of Cybercrime'




The Internal Revenue Service revealed Tuesday that criminals accessed tax information for more than 100,000 taxpayers via an online system -- and they bypassed security screens using personal information like Social Security numbers and addresses, which experts say are routinely sold online between criminals for just a few dollars.

The IRS said that 200,000 taxpayers' accounts received suspicious login attempts, and half of those accounts were accessed. The attackers were able to look at taxpayers' filings because they "confirmed" their identities by entering personal data like Social Security numbers, dates of birth and street addresses.

Source: NBC News

No comments: