IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

Post by joering2 » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:12 AM UTC

josu wrote: post #54

patja wrote: post #21

I started "working" a few hours a week teaching programming at my kids' school. When they put me on the payroll I was astounded by the number of forms I had to fill out. I counted 15 forms requiring my signature, no less than 5 of which required my SSN. Lo and behold, there was a data breach of employee and volunteer records. Volunteers had to have background checks, which required the SSN. Thousands of people had th…

You can look at it from the other side too, maybe Americans are putting too much weight on the SSN. I could practically post my Spanish ID number next to my name online and nothing would probably happen. As a matter of fact, a stupid regional government agency posted it next to my name in 2011 and it's been up ever since.

Post by jfuhrman » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:18 AM UTC

joering2 wrote: post #71

josu wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can look at it from the other side too, maybe Americans are putting too much weight on the SSN. I could practically post my Spanish ID number next to my name online and nothing would probably happen. As a matter of fact, a stupid regional government agency posted it next to my name in 2011 and it's been up ever since.

If you properly protect your security number, which requires some monthly commitment (such as $15 lifelock, or freecreditreport $5 per month), you can pretty much post your SSN online and really not much will happen. Any time someone uses it, you will get the alert and chance to act (stop the inquiry before it hit hard). It just that most people believe that not making their SSN public is enough for it to be safe.

Post by pgrote » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:42 AM UTC

zaroth wrote: post #5

Krebs wrote about this in March: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/03/sign-up-at-irs-gov-before... He has some good advice; claim your account before someone else does.

Post by seanp2k2 » Wed, May 27, 2015, 1:43 AM UTC

__z wrote: post #28

scrollaway wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a french citizen, and on behalf of everybody I know who doesn't live in the US (and some that do), the idea that knowing somebody's SSN basically puts you in control of their life and gives you the ability to ruin it is unbelievably ridiculous.

Someone fraudulently used my social security number. It is such a sick and terrible feeling knowing that your number is "out there" and can be used by anyone for a whole host of things. It feels horrible and really, really violating.

Post by click170 » Wed, May 27, 2015, 2:01 AM UTC

paulhauggis wrote: post #76

revelation wrote: post #29

Something is wrong with the wording here. Thieves stole the tax info of 100,000 but they stole it from the IRS. Make no mistake: IRS needs to be held responsible for this. It is their fault.

So when the victim is someone you don't like, it's somehow their fault?? The fault should be with the person/people that stole the tax information, not the IRS. Blaming the IRS would be like blaming a home owner for not installing a good enough security system when they get robbed instead of the criminals.