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IRS Gets Hacked Again, Forced To Scrap Their Entire PIN System (engadget.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the filing-out dept.

The IRS has abandoned a system of PIN numbers used when filing tax returns online after they detected "automated attacks taking place at an increasing frequency," adding that only "a small number" of taxpayers were affected. An anonymous reader quotes the highlights from Engadget: The IRS chose not to kill the tool back in February, since most commercial tax software products use it... If you'll recall, identity thieves used malware to steal taxpayers' info from other websites, which was then used to generate 100,000 PINs, back in February... This time, the IRS detected "automated attacks taking place at an increasing frequency" thanks to the additional defenses it added after that initial hack... the agency determined that it would be safer to give up on a verification method that's scheduled for the chopping block anyway.

6 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. All this crap... by Ecuador · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All this crap just because tax preparation companies throw lobbying money to keep the current system. Most Americans would not need to actually file for taxes, the IRS already has all the data it needs, but noooo we have to keep an obsolete industry going no matter the cost...

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    1. Re:All this crap... by gtall · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You are blaming the wrong party, Einstein. Congress created the Swiss cheese that is the U.S. tax code. And the latest estimate is the sainted American people are skipping out on about $450 Billion in taxes they should be paying. That's enough to cover the yearly deficit.

      By the way, the IRS does not have all the data they need and they don't even have enough compute power to process what they do get. Congress has seen fit to starve them for the same idiot reasons you think they are to be held to account. If they did have all the info they needed, the tax cheats would be filing up for their court dates to explain to a judge why they skipped out on their taxes.

    2. Re:All this crap... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Posting AC for obvious reasons...

      I have a Hong Kong company that I own. Before I started it, I read the ENTIRE Hong Kong tax law. It was 187 pages - and each page was half English, half Cantonese. So about 95 US pages. It works, it's simple, it's direct, and it's 100% understandable.

      The US code is so confusing and so long and SO self-contradictory that the IRS doesn't even guarantee it's own calculations! If you ask them to do your taxes for you (which is entirely legal, they offer that service), and they do it wrong - you're still at fault for their error. One tax return, sent to 6 different preparers, will most likely end up with 6 different numbers owed - which may be different than what the IRS believes in the first place.

      The US IRS tax system is set up to make us ALL guilty of tax fraud so that, if nothing else, we could be arrested and jailed for that violation. We're vassals and servants, not citizens.

      It also explains why there are tens of thousands of armed IRS agents, equipped with REAL assault rifles (fully automatic, short barrel carbines) and other real military-grade equipment.

  2. The Broken MS Windows fallacy. Try 250 accounts. by raymorris · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > Just lock down an account if too many wrong PINS are used

    The bad guys don't care which account they access. Suppose you limit it to four tries at a PIN. The bad guys try 250 accounts with four PINs each, not one account with a thousand PINs.

    Locking out the account rather than the attacker is just DOSing yourself. I like to call this the Broken MS Windows fallacy, because Windows does it.

  3. Trump's tax plan by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 3, Insightful

    All this crap just because tax preparation companies throw lobbying money to keep the current system. Most Americans would not need to actually file for taxes, the IRS already has all the data it needs, but noooo we have to keep an obsolete industry going no matter the cost...

    Donald Trump's position on tax reform eliminates much of the paperwork. If you're single and earn less than $25,000 or jointly earn less than $50,000 you pay no tax. Send in a single-page form and you're done.

    There's not a lot of federal income to be had from low wage earners, so it makes perfect sense to eliminate the extra work on both sides. Also, poor people don't have to spend money on tax filing services (H&R Block, et al).

    Poor people get to keep more of their money, the IRS has a lot less work to do (estimated 75 million households), and the federal government gets just as much revenue.

    Hillary Clinton doesn't have a unified plan to reform tax reporting (posted on her website).

    If you think this issue is important, elect Hillary and nothing will change.

    1. Re:Trump's tax plan by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The simpler the code, the harder it is to hide income. Eliminate 99% of the tax code (seriously, if it's more than a few hundred pages it's too complex), eliminate 99% of all deductions, and you will have a hard time hiding income - unless you operate an all-cash business (which, in itself, draws a lot of attention with the reporting of structured deposits, etc.)

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!