Tag Archives: IRS

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Reflections on the IRS and Ashley Madison Data Breaches

We covered the IRS data breach earlier this week, but I haven’t mentioned the hacking incident of Ashley Madison, a website that facilitates adultery. Last month, hackers managed to steal the user names, passwords, and even credit card info for 32 million users of the site. Here’s an article from Wired.com.

Given that the “social network” is a hub for cheating spouses, this will have ramifications far beyond the usual identity theft.

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IRS Hacked: 400,000 Compromised

This will lead to many, many instances of identity theft.

In case you haven’t heard, the IRS was hacked. The number of taxpayers affected keeps changing, but right now it’s at about 400,000. It may go up further as more information comes out.

Here’s a decent write-up of what happened.

And here’s what you can take away:

  1. As I’ve written before, identity theft is going to be a fact of life for most people. Looking back at the data breaches that have happened over the past year (Target, Anthem, and the IRS off the top of my head), no one can seriously believe that his personal information is safe.
  2. While you can’t keep your info out of identity thieves’ hands, you can and should prepare by monitoring your credit regularly and having an action plan for if and when your identity is stolen.
  3. Since this latest hack may have exposed tax returns, expect identity thieves to choose juicier targets, i. e. wealthier people. But no one is exempt from worry.
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Latest: Scammers Posing as IRS Agents

From CNN:

You know tax scams are getting seriously out of hand when a criminal posing as an IRS agent calls one of the country’s top tax-crime fighters, hoping to scare him into sending money.
Yet that’s exactly what happened to Timothy Camus, the deputy inspector general for investigations at the agency that oversees the IRS.

Oh, the irony.