Breach, Data Security

IRS attack may have originated in Russia

The recent breach at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) may have originated in Russia Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., said, according to a report by CNN on Thursday.

"It's a problem, no matter where it's coming from, for the taxpayers and the IRS. It surely doesn't help matters though that it's coming from Russia for all the obvious geopolitical reasons," CNN reported Roskam as saying.

Criminals accessed information on more than 100,000 taxpayer accounts through the “Get Transcript” application, which has since been temporarily disabled. Other IRS systems are not affected.

Roskam, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Subcommittee on IRS Oversight, along with Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, had sent a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, requesting an explanation as to how the breach occurred. Koskinen had spoken to Roskam by phone earlier in the week regarding the breach.

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