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IRS Employees Fall For Hackers

Posted by samzenpus on from the this-mail-may-come-as-a-shock-to-you dept.

linuxwrangler writes "Treasury department auditors recently posed as network technicians and attempted to get IRS employees to reveal their usernames and passwords and/or change the password to one suggested by the "technician". The result: over one-third shared their passwords. If there is any good news in the story it is that the 35% figure represents a substantial reduction from the 71% who fell for the ruse in 2001."

30 of 279 comments (clear)

  1. Well, I'm glad choicepoint has competition.. by Tobias.Davis · · Score: 5, Funny

    We need more incompetence out there giving away our life stories!

  2. Fool me once... by The+Amazing+Fish+Boy · · Score: 5, Funny

    If there is any good news in the story it is that the 35% figure represents a substantial reduction from the 71% who fell for the ruse in 2001.

    You know, there's an old saying in Tennessee - I know it's in Texas, it's probably in Tennessee...

    1. Re:Fool me once... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice I must be an American.

  3. you know what they say.. by peculiarmethod · · Score: 2, Funny

    as the old saying goes.. death, taxes, and idiocy.

    --
    ** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
    1. Re:you know what they say.. by ikkonoishi · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not
      sure about the former." Albert Einstein

  4. Apologies in advance... by nganju · · Score: 5, Funny


    I'm sure that all this bad press for the IRS must be really taxing.

    Sorry.

    --
    There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
    1. Re:Apologies in advance... by Elminst · · Score: 3, Funny

      Probably an IRS employee with mod points... ;)

      --
      No unauthorized use. Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again.
  5. Hmmm by user9918277462 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anybody who's had any significant amount of contact with government workers isn't impressed. You could probably get 35% of them to stick their tongues in an electrical socket if a "technician" told them it'd make their "Internet work better".

  6. Re:I would be happy.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh come on, be more optimistic! Personally I am hoping for 9.9999%. Five nines, people, five nines!

  7. Re:I would be happy.. by boingyzain · · Score: 1, Funny

    Yeah, and then there's only a 10% chance that someone will be able to hack the IRS and give themselves a $30,000 tax return!

  8. slashdot_story= yahoo_story_delay(2hrs); by hedley · · Score: 5, Funny

    The two hour echo strikes again.

    H.

  9. Not isolated to software by hunterx11 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wetware too is vulnerable to buffer overflow exploits. Annoy a person for long enough and they'll do what you say just to get you to stop talking.

    --
    English is easier said than done.
  10. "IRS Employees Fall For Hackers" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wow! Tax chicks will date me?

    1. Re:"IRS Employees Fall For Hackers" by shadowbearer · · Score: 3, Funny

      Sure, they want to audit your personal files in view of a possible future partnership of matrimony. Truly a relationship to bank on.

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    2. Re:"IRS Employees Fall For Hackers" by Kirth+Gersen · · Score: 2, Funny

      First rule of dating tax chicks:

      Never, never dump one.

  11. Quit lying! by toupsie · · Score: 3, Funny

    Social Engineering is the biggest problem. Just like I always say

    Oh please. You have never ever said that before. Just yesterday you were saying the shrinkrap on new DVDs was the biggest problem. I can hear it now, "Damn it! I can't get open up my new Steel Magnolia Director's Cut DVD!!! This damn wrapper is the biggest problem! There should be a law!".

    --
    Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
  12. RTFA by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since few have read the fucking article, I'll quote the relevant portions here:

    The auditors called 100 IRS employees and managers, portraying themselves as personnel from the information technology help desk trying to correct a network problem. They asked the employees to provide their network logon name and temporarily change their password to one they suggested.

    "We were able to convince 35 managers and employees to provide us their username and change their password," the report said.

    That was a 50 percent improvement when compared with a similar test in 2001, when 71 employees cooperated and changed their passwords.

    ... three sentences ...

    Employees gave several reasons for complying with the request, in violation with IRS rules that prohibit employees from divulging their passwords.

    Some said they were not aware of the hacking technique and did not suspect foul play, or they wanted to be as helpful as possible to the computer technicians. Some were having network problems at the time, so the call seemed logical.

    Other employees could not find the caller's name on a global IRS employee directory but gave their information anyway. Some hesitated but got approval from their managers to cooperate.
    ... Two Sentences.

    With this news, I'll probably be calling my credit card company to see about helping a few customer service representatives with their account problems.

    Probably my health & car insurance companies too. It'd be great if I could save 15% on my car insurance.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
    1. Re:RTFA by Phleg · · Score: 4, Funny

      Probably my health & car insurance companies too. It'd be great if I could save 15% on my car insurance.

      You could always just call Geico.

      --
      No comment.
  13. Homeland Security by varmittang · · Score: 2, Funny

    I got dibs on calling Homeland Security next!

    --
    -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
    12345
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  14. Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    We got blogging.

  15. Re:No matter what OS you're running... by Soko · · Score: 2, Funny

    Informative? This is common knnowledge, or should be to any admin who's been on the job for more than a day or two.

    Where have all the BOFHs gone? In my day, that candy bar would be 6o grams or so of C4 nougat with 3 remote detonator almonds all covered in a delicious chocolatey coating.

    Kids - no sense of history.

    Soko

    --
    "Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
  16. Change your passwords! by dfj225 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Due to an error in the server configuration, all logins will fail unless you change your password to 'password'. We encourage all users to change their password in order to continue to enjoy services that logged in members have access to. Thank you, - Tech Support.

    --
    SIGFAULT
  17. Re:I would be happy.. by Old+Uncle+Bill · · Score: 2, Funny

    Like I always say, our application won't give you five nines, but it can give you nine fives.

    --
    Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
  18. Re:Social Engineering is the biggest problem by RodgerDodger · · Score: 2, Funny

    You need to fool people? Hah! 70% of people would give away their password for a block of chocolate!

    --
    "Software is too expensive to build cheaply"
  19. Ladies and gentlemen by Master_T · · Score: 2, Funny

    Your Tax Dollars at work.

  20. Re:Social Engineering is the biggest problem by wo1verin3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sure, but first please let me confirm your slashdot login.. please reply with your username and password.

    Security Breach Traced To Hole in Head of Admin

  21. Moderation? by CustomFort · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm sure moderation will let me know.

    You must be new here... ;)

  22. HUMAN SOFTWARE UPGRADE!! by Maxhrk · · Score: 2, Funny

    HUMAN VERSION 2.0 CHANGELOG Fixed social engineering immunity system KNOWN BUG: AIDS Aging problem heart disease etc... (you know the rest.. i am trying to be funny :( )

  23. It's a darn shame... by Lord_Breetai · · Score: 3, Funny

    I guess cracking the IRS dbase isn't so impressive. Poor Trinity. ^_^

    --
    "You are only young once, but you can be immature forever." -www.animemusicvideos.org
  24. Re:public passwords by lachlan76 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I prefer to use obfuscated perl to show the usablility of the Unices...makes me look all 1337, and keeps the virus-writers away ;)