IRS Reports Hackers Accessed Data of Up to 100,000 People via Financial Aid Site for Students

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IRS Reports Hackers Accessed Data of Up to 100,000 People via Financial Aid Site for Students

By CircleID Reporter
April 08, 2017, 7:55 pm PDT Views: 6,320 Add Comment

U.S. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner (IRS) testified before the Senate Finance Committee stating the agency has discovered fraudsters could use someone’s personal data to fill out a financial aid application, and the “Data Retrieval Tool” would populate the application with tax information. Selena Larson reporting in CNN: “That information could be used to file false tax returns. The commissioner said fewer than 8,000 of these returns were processed, and refunds were issued totaling $30 million. ... IRS flagged 100,000 accounts of people who started the application, used the Data Retrieval Tool, but then didn’t finish it. The IRS is alerting those people, as they may have had their information compromised ... 2016 tax season saw a 400% increase in phishing and malware.”

By CircleID Reporter

CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.

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