http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech...thousands-of-social-security-numbers-20130708Another day, another slipup by the Internal Revenue Service.
The incident involves the unwitting exposure of "tens of thousands" of Social Security numbers, according to a recent audit by the independent transparency and public-domain group Public.Resource.org. The identifying numbers were on the Internet for less than 24 hours after being discovered, but the damage was done. And unfortunately, the data-breach concerns some of the most sensitive types of transactions: Those made by nonprofit political groups known as 527s.
Every so often, 527s have to file tax forms to the IRS, which then get added to a database. The database itself is hardly a secret; the IRS has been sending updated records routinely to Public.Resource.org and other public-interest groups, and it's a favorite among political reporters. But when the IRS told the group's founder, Carl Malamud, to disregard the Form 990-Ts included in the agency's January release, he took a closer look at the files in question.
After analyzing the breach, Malamud wrote a letter to the IRS pointing out 10 instances where a social security number was accidentally revealed on the government's website—just a small sample of the larger breach.
Just the day before, Malamud had filed another letter to the agency describing a problem with the 990-Ts. Of over 3,000 tax returns contained in the January update, 319 contained sensitive data the agency should have scrubbed, Malamud wrote in the July 1 report that he filed to the inspector general's office. In that mixup, some 2,319 social security numbers—perhaps more—were revealed.
The IRS Mistakenly Exposed Thousands of Social Security Numbers - NationalJournal.com
does the incompetence never end with the IRS? are we are going to trust them with Obama Care enforcement?
It is bad, but considering how many people who have no business seeing your SS number are exposed to it I do not see this as being a huge problem in the realm of identity theft. Don't get me wrong, it is great to clean this up and get rid of the idiots who let it happen, but really your social security number is probably wide open in a number of areas where it should never be displayed.
Places where your social security number may be displayed to people with no security:
1. Utility companies
2. Cable companies
3. Any office where you have filled out an application for employment.
4. Places where you have filled out an application for credit.
There are probably more. In these places i have listed your SS number is transcribed into a database, or filed in some drawer where other employees of that company will be able to gain access. In many of these cases your number will be displayed to any customer service rep who brings up your information stored in the database. The reality is it would be quite easy to store the information without displaying to anyone who views your account, but most of these places do not do that. There is no security keeping notes, data storage devices, or even personal computing devices from being taken in and out of the office. Hell, we just found out our own government allowed Bradley Manning to access sensitive and top secret information while also being able to pass in and out of security with personal data storage devices. There was no security within the system to prevent him from doing what he did, even though there were ways to enact security to do so.
I am not trying to tell you not to be bothered as the IRS should be much more secure in regards to this. however, people do need to start waking up to much bigger problems about the openness of social security numbers and how many places there are which some low wage, or high wage, jerk with no security is given the ability to see that information. In other words, do not stop with the IRS if you are concerned with this.
It has always kinda amazed me how worked up about SSN's people get. They are everywhere, to the list below you can add hospitals, BMV, military and on and on and on. Whenever you file a police report the SSN is included so dont crash or report your neighbor dog barking. When I was in the service your ssn was on everything including your laundry. Maybe it is a bigger deal than I think.
2,319 social security numbers—perhaps more—were revealed.
Not that big of a number but the fact that the IRS leaked them is some what embarrassing for them and funny to us. :laughat: IRS
Chances are mine are not one of them, and same goes to all of you.
It has always kinda amazed me how worked up about SSN's people get. They are everywhere, to the list below you can add hospitals, BMV, military and on and on and on. Whenever you file a police report the SSN is included so dont crash or report your neighbor dog barking. When I was in the service your ssn was on everything including your laundry. Maybe it is a bigger deal than I think.
Heh. I share your relief. Always remember that you are statistically insignificant.Well, I feel so much better now that I know that YOU are not concerned.
Heh. I share your relief. Always remember that you are statistically insignificant.
No. Whatever anomaly occurs, however statistically insignificant it might be, it's always 100% when it happens to you. I agree.Not in MY context.
It became a bigger deal when people started using them to steal people's identity - it doesn't take much (apparently) for criminals to use it for racking up debt - which then you have to sort out for the rest of your life. . and of course, at one point in our history your personal credit history was considered to be none of your business, and instead something to keep from you. When that changed - people saw crap on their credit reports that were from other people.
A lot of people weren't victims of identity theft - but were victims of ignorant organizations and businesses that made mistakes and falsely assigned things to their credit history from other people.
SSN's alone (just the numbers) are meaningless (or should I say useless) - because they're assigned methodically. You could sit down and write up a list of SSN's based on how they're assigned (state / county / etc). What a criminal needs is personal details (a name, where you live, maybe a few other tidbits) for it to be used easily. I'm not sure how little is needed - but the number is just one component.
The IRS Mistakenly Exposed Thousands of Social Security Numbers - NationalJournal.com
does the incompetence never end with the IRS? are we are going to trust them with Obama Care enforcement?
The IRS Mistakenly Exposed Thousands of Social Security Numbers - NationalJournal.com
does the incompetence never end with the IRS? are we are going to trust them with Obama Care enforcement?
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