Report: IRS putting tax data at risk

The Internal Revenue Service has all kinds of your identifying information—and they aren’t capable of keeping it safe from hackers.

That’s according to a new report out from the Government Accountability Office, finding that the IRS is relying on outdated software that lacks proper technical support to house American tax data.

This, GAO officials said, is putting Americans at significant risk of identity theft.

“Without proper safeguards, computer systems are vulnerable to individuals and groups with malicious intentions who can intrude and use their access to obtain sensitive information, commit fraud and identity theft, disrupt operations, or launch attacks against other computer systems and networks,” the report stated.

Through its audit, the GAO identified the following key areas the IRS needs to improve its system security policies:

• Implement controls for identifying users of its systems
• Encrypted sensitive data
• Monitor systems to make sure only authorized IRS employees have access to sensitive areas

While these sound like pretty basic security measures, it isn’t surprising that the tax collection agency is behind the curve. That’s because the entire government is years behind when it comes to cybersecurity.

The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t been able to match the security power of commercial cybersecurity software after having its best and brightest work to develop a system for nearly 15 years. That failed project cost taxpayers $5.7 billion.

Meanwhile, headlines about massive government data breaches emerge daily. Earlier this year, hackers released detailed contact information for 20,000 FBI employees. That breach followed a similar data dump involving 10,000 DHS employees a day earlier.

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