The Internal Revenue Service Tuesday announced a major security breach involving 100,000 taxpayer accounts that were accessed by criminals.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told reporters in a conference call that the information was gained by “organized” criminals who already had access to personal details, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth and street addresses.
“The weren’t getting any data from us, they showed up with information and tried to use it as best they could,” Koskinen said.
The announcement comes as the IRS has fallen under increasing scrutiny from Congress over alleged targeting of conservative non-profit groups and the agency’s lackluster customer service and its outdated technology.
Koskinen said the IRS has identified 200,000 attempts to access taxpayer data through the agency’s “Get Transcript” program, which has been temporarily suspended.
The program allows taxpayers to access a transcript online or by mail to view tax account transactions, line-by-line tax return information or wage and income reported.
Those whose accounts were breached will receive free credit monitoring, Koskinen added.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration as well as the IRS’ Criminal Investigation unit is investigating the breach.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who learned about the breach last week, called it “unacceptable,” and said his panel has been working with the IRS to understand what happened.
Hatch criticized the IRS for not improving its technology to fend of breaches.
“This agency has been repeatedly warned by top government watchdogs that its data security systems are inadequate against the growing threat of international hackers and data thieves,” Hatch said.
