News & Analysis as of

Hackers Tax Returns Identity Theft

J.S. Held

How to Defend Against Identity Theft This Tax Season

J.S. Held on

In recent years, identity theft cases have surged, especially during tax season. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), in 2022, the federal agency identified and prevented USD 5.7 billion in tax-related fraud, and...more

Snell & Wilmer

Taxpayer Cybersecurity – Step 5: Create a Data Theft Recovery Plan

Snell & Wilmer on

The Security Summit, consisting of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), state tax agencies, and private-sector tax industry officials, is encouraging tax professionals during the 2019 summer season to take some time to...more

Snell & Wilmer

Taxpayer Cybersecurity – Step 4: Recognize Identity Theft

Snell & Wilmer on

The Security Summit, consisting of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), state tax agencies, and private-sector tax industry officials, is encouraging tax professionals during the 2019 summer season to take some time to...more

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider

Virginia Data Breach Law Amended to Include Income Tax Preparers

We have frequently reported about how devastating and widespread tax fraud is in the U.S.—in the past affecting hundreds of thousands of U.S. tax payers. Income tax preparers are at risk for cyber intrusions because they hold...more

Bowditch & Dewey

Equifax Breach: What Can the Hackers Do with Your Information and How Can You Protect Yourself?

Bowditch & Dewey on

The Equifax breach is not the biggest in terms of the number of people affected (the 2016 Yahoo breach compromised data associated with over 500 million user accounts compared to the 143 million people affected by the Equifax...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Security, Privacy and the...

Stolen Tax Returns? Virginia Seeks a Solution.

Did someone steal your tax return? You are not alone. Indeed, the rise in tax-related identity theft has been well documented. In 2015, the FTC reported a 50% increase in identity theft complaints. A primary cause for...more

Littler

It's W-2 Phishing Season: How to Stop, and Respond to, Tax-Related Identity Fraud Aimed at Your Organization's Employees

Littler on

HR and payroll professionals nationwide have been, and will continue to be, targeted with e-mails apparently sent by a senior executive but actually sent by scammers who ask for a prompt reply with the 2016 W-2s for all of...more

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider

W2 Phishing Scam Hits Citizens Memorial Hospital

We continue to see all industries hit with W2 phishing scams, including the health care industry. Citizens Memorial Hospital, located in Bolivar, Missouri, was hit with the scam when one of its employees believed that an...more

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider

Privacy Tip #51 – Check Up on Your Tax Preparer’s Data Security Measures

We have written before about the ability of hackers to file false tax returns to get fraudulent refunds by using the IRS website, and how hundreds of thousands of Americans have become victims of tax fraud. The IRS...more

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider

Privacy Tip #28 – What do you do if you are a victim of IRS tax fraud?

It’s tax season. The dreaded April 15 federal tax filing deadline is looming. You try to be diligent, and you file your tax return early, hoping to get an early refund. But when you try to e-file your return, it gets rejected...more

BakerHostetler

Don’t Get Phished! Hackers Pose as CEOs to Steal Tax Information from HR and Payroll Professionals at Healthcare Organizations

BakerHostetler on

Every tax season is plagued with scams to defraud individuals and companies for money from tax returns. However, this year has started off with a bang and this means that the healthcare industry has another reason to worry....more

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider

Tax season may bring more breaches; new victim, TaxAct

This tax season, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been working closely with big tax preparation vendors and chains to improve the security this year and safeguard against widespread identity theft. The IRS is now...more

King & Spalding

Senate Legislation Seeks To Protect Taxpayer Data In Response To IRS Data Breach

King & Spalding on

On September 11, 2015, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a bill aimed at combating identity theft and tax rebate fraud. The legislation comes as the Internal...more

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider

32 alleged IRS hackers arrested

The federal government has arrested 32 members of the Insane Crip gang and charged them with 283 counts of criminal conspiracy, 299 counts of identity theft, 226 counts of grand theft and 58 counts of attempted theft through...more

Robinson+Cole Data Privacy + Security Insider

IRS admits 334,000 victims of fraudulent tax refunds due to security flaws on website

Not only did the IRS lose a flash drive with 12,000 school worker’s Social Security numbers on it in Texas, it admitted on August 17th that its initial estimate that 110,000 taxpayers’ personal information was used to file...more

Lowndes

IRS Admits Security Breach More Extensive

Lowndes on

Earlier this year, the IRS announced that identity thieves had been able to hack one of its computer databases and gain access to extremely sensitive data.  Back then, the IRS indicated that about 225,000 households had been...more

Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP

Taxpayer Identity Theft

Recently, there has been a spike in felons filing fraudulent income tax returns seeking refunds. The identity thief merely acquires a taxpayer’s name, address and Social Security Number, and files a return with a different...more

Cozen O'Connor

Pennsylvania Court Dismisses Data Breach Claims

Cozen O'Connor on

In 2014, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s computer system was hacked, resulting in the disclosure of sensitive personal information of current and former employees, including names, addresses, birthdates, social...more

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