IRS Security Breach from 2015 - Three Years Later, It's Still Not Secure

According to NextGov (June 25, 2018) Personal information about more than 350,000 taxpayers [the IRS later reported that there were as many as 724,000 victims.] was compromised by the IRS in 2015. Three years later, it’s still not secure. The 2015 crisis was spawned by weaknesses in the identity verification process for the IRS’ “Get Transcript” feature.

Because the verification process wasn’t rigorous enough, scammers were able to use taxpayers’ personal information gathered from other sources, including data breaches, to get copies of their tax records and all the personal information they contained. The fraudsters could then use that data to file phony tax returns and steal refunds or for other nefarious purposes.
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Hackers used the “Get Transcript” program, which allows you to check your tax history online. The IRS began the online program in 2013, allowing taxpayers to request their tax history on-line, in addition to through the mail. But following a nine-month investigation by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration, the IRS says its online service has put hundreds of thousands of more taxpayers at risk of identify theft.