The IRS believes that $50 million in false tax refunds were filed as a result of a data breach. The finger has been pointed at anonymous Russian hackers by those close to the investigation, Russia is also the reputed home of hackers who breached both the White House and the State Department computer systems.
The FBI has announced an intention to find the hackers alongside the IRS' own Criminal Investigation Unit and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The IRS' own watchdog has claimed that data security is the greatest problem that the agency faces.
A report drawn up by the watchdog body claimed that it is an issue that the IRS has failed to address sufficiently since at least 1997. As per the Republican Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch:
"When the federal government fails to protect private and confidential taxpayer information, Congress must act."
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