Breach, Data Security, Vulnerability Management

IRS leaks tens of thousands of Social Security numbers

Social Security numbers for thousands of U.S. citizens were made publicly available online after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) posted them to a government website.

How many victims? 100,000.

What type of personal information? Social Security numbers, names, names of organizations, street and email addresses.

What happened? Public.Resource.org first founder Carl Malamud conducted a basic search of tax forms filed by people involved with nonprofit political groups known as 527s, and he quickly discovered more than 10 instances where a basic search revealed Social Security numbers.

What was the response? Malamud notified the IRS and the website search feature and relevant documents were made unavailable to the public within 24 hours. The IRS is now investigating the situation and exploring options on how best to proceed.

Quote: “It is time now for the administration to send a tiger team over to the [IRS] to help fix their information management practices,” Malamud said.

Source: Fox News, “Group: IRS mistakenly posted thousands of Social Security numbers on website, July 9, 2013.

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