Hackers have compromised over 100,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxpayers' accounts by exploiting an insecure Get Transcript application.
The data accessed by hackers includes Social Security information, date of birth and street address. This level of information is more than enough to easily perpetrate far-reaching identity theft of the individuals affected, potentially causing years of disruption and inconvenience to those affected.
The IRS determined late last week that unusual activity had taken place on the application, which indicates that unauthorized third parties had access to some accounts on the transcript application.
Following an initial review, it appears that access was gained to more than 100,000 accounts through the Get Transcript application.
This is another example that not all breaches are being used to steal payment card details and that any organizations handling personal information for customers need to assume that they will be subject to a cyber attack in the future. Defending against attacks requires a multi-layered approach, and with as much emphasis on Breach Detection as defense.
A full statement from the IRS can be found here.