The Internal Revenue Service ( IRS) revealed on Monday penetration by identities thieves of one of its website wreaked havoc more seriously than originally thought, with an additional 220,000 taxpayer accounts potentially compromised, the Wall Street Journal said.
According to the Journal, the IRS's recent review showed that an additional 390,000 taxpayers were potentially affected by data breach, including about 220,000 household accounts "where there were instances of possible or potential access" to prior-year return data, as well as 170,000 additional instances of "suspected attempts that failed to clear the authentication processes."
The IRS first disclosed in May that identities thieves used one of its data base to obtain prior-year tax return information for about 114,000 U.S. households. In addition, another 111,000 unsuccessful attempts were also found by the IRS.
By using stolen Social Security numbers and other data, the identities thieves were believed to access an IRS online application called "Get Transcript", where taxpayers can get prior- year return information.
The IRS said the information stolen from its data base, together with personal information presumably stolen from other sources, could help identities thieves claim fraudulent tax refunds in the future.
The IRS on Monday did not identify a potential source of the breach, but in June, the U.S. TV network CNN cited U.S. officials as saying that the cyber breach originated in Russia.
GMT 14:02 2018 Sunday ,02 December
RDIF says $2 billion will be invested in Russian economy from joint Russian-Saudi fundGMT 12:03 2018 Friday ,30 November
Canada on track to sign new free trade deal with US and MexicoGMT 07:59 2018 Wednesday ,21 November
Merkel policies in focus in final debate on draft German budgetGMT 16:57 2018 Wednesday ,31 October
Putin to discuss relations development prospectsGMT 16:04 2018 Monday ,29 October
Russian, Cuban presidents to discuss strategic partnershipGMT 12:57 2018 Saturday ,27 October
"Undeclared war" forces Russia to boost defense spendingGMT 15:45 2018 Friday ,26 October
Medvedev to represent Russia at upcoming APEC summitGMT 14:12 2018 Thursday ,25 October
Saudi Arabia plans to invest in Russian-Chinese Fund soonMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor