ID theft is a threat to taxpayers [IRS lacking security since 2002]

[Occulus]

Security flaws leave IRS system open to snooping, GAO report says

By ANDY SULLIVAN
Reuters News Service

WASHINGTON - Computer security flaws at America's tax collection agency expose millions of taxpayers to potential identity theft or illegal police snooping, according to a congressional report released Monday.

The Internal Revenue Service also is unlikely to know if outsiders are browsing through citizens' tax returns, because it doesn't effectively police its computer systems for unauthorized use, the Government Accountability Office found.

The report was released three days after the deadline for filing personal income tax returns, and at a time when concerns about identity theft and computer security are running high.

"This lack of systems security at the IRS is completely unacceptable and needs to be corrected immediately," said House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/3141520

other links:

US tax agency blasted for IT security leaks
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162552

"The computer system for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the US tax agency, suffers from 60 security holes, 21 of which have been known since 2002, a government report has warned." :grr:

US tax system shot through with security holes
http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=138018&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=6&liChannelID=22&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1

"The report also found almost 40 new security problems with the IRS systems, and discovered that systems barriers between tax returns and money-laundering reports did not exist.

This means that police investigating money laundering can easily access anyone’s tax returns on the IRS systems, which is a violation of federal law." DOUBLE :grr:!!!

And we know of how many account Corporate America has had stolen from them thus far? I seem to recall that figure is up over half a million that they'll admit to in the past six to eight weeks...

Could this be preparation for a totally different sort of attack, one that tears down not our buildings, but our personal finances? And don't the new bankruptcy provisions offer 1) almost no way to eliminate credit card debt and 2) no protections against ID theft? Please, correct that point if I'm wrong, but if I'm right, well... it almost seems somebody wants us vulnerable to this.

Should I be adding 2 + 2 here, or am I just being paranoid?