IRSCompare and contrast the following statements:

Thieves managed to steal information on more than 100,000 taxpayers from the IRS,” Commissioner John Koskinen said Tuesday

“’This is not a security breach. Our basic information is secure,’” Mr. Koskinen insisted.

Well, I am glad to know that stealing consumer data from the computer of an entity to which it was entrusted is not a security breach. Nothing to see here. Move along …

Read more: IRS hit by cyberattack, thousands of taxpayers’ information stolen – Washington Times.

Published by Shawn E. Tuma

Shawn Tuma is an attorney who is internationally recognized in cybersecurity, computer fraud and data privacy law, areas in which he has practiced for nearly two decades. He is a Partner at Spencer Fane, LLP where he regularly serves as outside cybersecurity and privacy counsel to a wide range of companies from small to midsized businesses to Fortune 100 enterprises. You can reach Shawn by telephone at 972.324.0317 or email him at stuma@spencerfane.com.

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1 Comment

  1. Reblogged this on business cyber risk | law and commented:

    UPDATE: We now think we know a little more about this:

    (1) Russian hackers are believed to have been behind it ( http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/27/politics/irs-cyber-breach-russia/index.html );

    (2) Tax return information of more than 100,000 taxpayers was stolen;

    (3) The information was used to obtain $50 million in fraudulent tax refunds;

    (4) The taxpayers whose information was stolen will be offered free credit monitoring.

    So, with this, can we now get a retraction of that incredible statement? “This is not a security breach.”

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