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'Significant' Number of Equifax Victims Already Had Info Stolen, Says IRS (thehill.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hill: The IRS does not expect the Equifax data breach to have a major effect on the upcoming tax filing season, Commissioner John Koskinen said Tuesday, adding that the agency believes a "significant" number of the victims already had their information stolen by cyber criminals. "We actually think that it won't make any significantly or noticeable difference," Koskinen told reporters during a briefing on the agency's data security efforts. "Our estimate is a significant percent of those taxpayers already had their information in the hands of criminals." The IRS estimates that more than 100 million Americans have had their personally identifiable information stolen by criminal hackers, he said.
The Equifax breach disclosed in early September is estimated to have affected more than 145 million U.S. consumers. "It's an important reminder to the public that everyone can take any actions that they can ... to make sure we can do everything we can to protect personal information," Koskinen said of the breach on Tuesday, in response to a reporter's question. The IRS commissioner advised Americans to "assume" their data is already in the hands of criminals and "act accordingly."
The Equifax breach disclosed in early September is estimated to have affected more than 145 million U.S. consumers. "It's an important reminder to the public that everyone can take any actions that they can ... to make sure we can do everything we can to protect personal information," Koskinen said of the breach on Tuesday, in response to a reporter's question. The IRS commissioner advised Americans to "assume" their data is already in the hands of criminals and "act accordingly."
Don't worry, there are posters here who will find a way to blame the breach on "government" and continue to claim that governments can do nothing right, while applauding big companies for whatever they do, good or bad.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
I don't know about most of you but I've shared most my information on a very limited need to know basis. It's extremely unlikely most of my information was stolen prior to this idiotic event. Sure, some companies had some mailing addresses and credit card numbers but very few had everything together or my SSN. Now these idiots handed a consolidated version of it over and as usual there's no real repercussions. When will citizens of this country finally get upset enough to take action against this garbage and turn this country around. Oh wait, I forgot the 2016 election was basically a unanimous "I quit caring."