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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!
That is what they do. And sell the information to anyone who'll pay.
And the people of America think that is a good idea.
The data leaks just mean that some people are getting the data for free.
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."
What makes the tax code complicated is not the tax brackets. That's a simple spreadsheet. What makes it complicated is the number of exceptions, which allow Warren Buffet to effectively pay a lower tax rate than his secretary. You can simplify the tax code without going to a flat tax, and a flat tax doesn't inherently mean that the exceptions have been removed.
Or, maybe we can allow a flat tax only under certain eligibility conditions: No government contracts or subsidies, no lobbying, and none of either through proxies for 10 years, and you are eligible for a flat rate with no deductions.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
There really should be big fines on this sort of irresponsible collection of sensitive data.
This would have an unintended consequence of giving companies an even greater incentive to cover up security breaches. They only have to pay the fine if they get caught.
I'm not sure how you think that would work long-term. Perhaps I'm missing something but...
If you're proposing that the government is only allowed to collect taxes (a percentage of the total paid) on money they've paid out directly, it seems to me that they'd necessarily run out of money in short order. Unless, of course, you think the government firing up the presses every time an expense comes up is actually a good thing?
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Is there any part of this Administration that can sink any lower?
This can't be the first time you've asked that. Have you not learned that they're more than happy to answer? PLEASE, stop asking!
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Just hold still.
Have gnu, will travel.
Let loose the class action lawsuits.
Every time some dumbass creditor loans money out to someone on strength of this stolen information and doesn't get paid, but turns around and trashes the person identified by the information, sue the creditor.
I know that if I were on a jury I'd be like, "You idiot creditor. You didn't get repaid because you didn't bother to really verify the identity of the person you gave money to. And then you think you're justified in trashing this innocent person's reputation? Well, I feel justified in handing that innocent person a LARGE payment for damages. Yeah, I think $1M ought to cover it."
Especially since the IRS signed and then temporarily (!!!) suspended a multimillion Dollar contract with Equifucks. When does the government start protecting its residents from crime and evil? Why is Equifucks still in business? Close that shop down and throw the managers in jail.
Let's make all social security numbers, birth dates, and addresses public. That way the financial companies will have to find a better way of verifying the identify of people before it gives them access to large sums of money.