$ 50 million stolen from IRS Attack: The suspected Russian hackers identity thieves

$ 50 million stolen from IRS Attack: The suspected Russian hackers identity thieves -

So far, 2015 has been the year for the IRS and other tax-related services. First, Turbo Tax was rumored to have been raped and temporarily stopped the state of electronic filing after several attempts of fraud. Then word got out that tax evasion of state had enriched an incredible 3700% compared to last year. Now the IRS is facing an attack in which thieves accessed tax returns last year through its system "Get Transcript", using legitimate information stolen in a third attack. This theft has been determined that the work of Russian hackers, as reported by the Associated Press, and it is they may have received $ 50 million in stolen tax refunds before IRS attack was discovered. Hackers trying to enter the IRS systems and stealing additional information, but that they had enough legitimate information to steal 100,000 tax returns is certainly troubling - especially for those whose identities were stolen. This is not the first time that Russian hackers attacked US government systems; the White House was raped last year and some emails of President Obama have been compromised accordingly.

Could this IRS attack have been prevented?

According to USA Today, the IRS has been warned several times by observers of the government for years about the risks of computer security. At least seven federal audits and other reports covering 2007 through 2014 described dangers, including the failure to restrict physical access to computing resources, weak encryption for authentication on many IRS computer servers and do not filter employees who have access to personal data of taxpayers with a strong enough background checks. The IRS, like many other government agencies, is constantly under attack because of the large amount of personal data it collects. Although the agency admits he has room for improvement, officials have also stressed the cuts approved by Congress as it is difficult to implement the upgrades necessary security.

How can I protect myself?

The IRS plans to inform all taxpayers whose information was compromised in this attack and to provide free credit monitoring report. Taxpayers whose returns were obtained fraudulently will not be held responsible and legitimate submit tax forms. It is still unclear where hackers obtained the personal data used in the attack IRS, but since there have been so many security vulnerabilities in companies around the country recently, it is easy to imagine the information from of one of them. For more information on protecting your identity from the many pirates lurk there, visit our Identity Theft Protection blog or read our review identity protection service against the flight to see how these services can help you keep track of your personal information.