IRS probing possible data security breaches

Jun 24, 4:36 PM (ET)
By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Internal Revenue Service is investigating whether unauthorized people gained access to sensitive taxpayer and bank account information but has not yet exposed any privacy breaches, an official said on Friday.

The U.S. tax agency -- whose databases include suspicious activity reports from banks about possible terrorist or criminal transactions -- launched the probe after the Government Accountability Office said in April that the IRS "routinely permitted excessive access" to the computer files.

The GAO team was able to tap into the data without authorization, and gleaned information such as bank account holders' names, social security numbers, transaction values, and any suspected terrorist activity. It said the data was at serious risk of disclosure, modification or destruction.

"There is no evidence that anyone who was not authorized accessed the data outside the GAO," said Sheri James, a spokeswoman for the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), which is working with the IRS to address the concerns of the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

Horseshit- plain and simple horseshit!

If there is one database that the govenrment runs that everyone should understand is tapped and abused frequently, it is our records with the IRS.

We now that it has be abused for political payback and I suspect to something as mundane as checking out some woman that was fancied.

Now, the real question that should be asked, is why now does this information, and the others that have been revealed over the past year, become public?

It takes a bit of time to get the sales results from advertising, and I must ask this, are you ready to buy the new ID that is coming?

--WP