The Internal Revenue Service does not always properly authenticate the identity of taxpayers calling its toll-free assistance lines before providing them with confidential tax account information, according to a new government report. The report, by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found that taxpayers who call the IRS-toll-free lines are at risk of having…
Category: Government Sector
Hacked US Treasury websites serve visitors malware
Dan Goodin reports: Websites operated by the US Treasury Department are redirecting visitors to websites that attempt to install malware on their PCs, a security researcher warned on Monday. The infection buries an invisible iframe in bep.treas.gov, moneyfactory.gov, and bep.gov that invokes malicious scripts from grepad.com, Roger Thompson, chief research officer of AVG Technologies, told…
UK: Tax records ‘sold to junk mail firms’
Andrew Alderson reports: Experts fear that HM Revenue & Customs has been hit by another security breach, less than three years after it lost the details of 25 million taxpayers. Demands for an investigation come after a woman from Bedfordshire received direct mail using an incorrect surname that only appeared on an HMRC database. One…
(update) Hacker remains at large year after cyberattack on Va. data
A year after a computer hacker breached Virginia’s statewide prescription drug database, investigators still don’t know who did it. Computer functions at the state Department of Health Professions, which runs the program, were disabled for weeks as a result of the April 30, 2009, cyberattack. The hacker claimed to have stolen more than 35 million…
Knesset online security lapse exposes secret Mossad data
Amos Harel and Jonathan Lis report: The Knesset Web site committed a major security lapse several weeks ago by publicizing the names of high-level Mossad and Shin Bet officials whose identities are kept secret by law. Read more on Haaretz.com. It seems that this isn’t the first time the Knesset web site has exposed sensitive…
TX: CPS worker accused of stealing personal info
…. As an administrative technician [for Child Protective Services, under the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services], Andrea Daniels was entrusted with the paperwork provided by families like the Robinsons who want to adopt or foster children. Daniels is accused of stealing personal information from at least 70 applicants including the Robinsons in exchange…