Lucas123 writes “Computerworld has a story about the possibility and the potential ramifications of an IRS info loss similar to the UK’s recent mishap. According to one World Bank executive, it could have already happened, ‘and we don’t know about it.’ While the IRS does offer input encryption to its workers, more than half of its 94,000 employees have permission to take taxpayer data to locations outside the IRS offices. In the 2007 filing season, roughly 128 million individual

tax returns were filed. In addition to the basic personal data on those forms, an IRS breach could plus jeopardize the banking data of the 46% of filers who requested direct deposit refunds. that is not the first date that IRS protection has been called into question, and the division of Treasury’s progress in that arena is dubious. [PDF]”

Read more of that story at Slashdot.

Orginal post by Soulskill