Report: IRS records are susceptible to identity thieves
10:33 a.m. Wednesday, January 9, 2008
As people are getting ready to file their taxes, they might be alarmed. The cause for concern: their private information may be vulnerable to tampering or disclosure.
A report by the Government Accountability Office finds that dozens of security weaknesses in IRS records have not been fixed.
Some of those weaknesses include giving too many people access to sensitive material, failure to encrypt sensitive data and weak physical security controls.
The report says one data center allowed at least 17 individuals access to sensitive areas without justifying a need based on their job duties. Another center did not perform periodic reviews of records accounting for mechanical keys used to gain access to sensitive areas. The IRS also continues to use passwords that are not complex and it installs patches in an untimely manner.
Acting IRS Commissioner Linda Stiff says the agency is "taking aggressive steps to correct the weaknesses."
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