Exploit: Human Error
Risk to Business: Severe
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Friday acknowledged that thanks to an employee error, the agency accidentally published confidential information about 120,000 taxpayers on its website. The compromised data came from Form 990-T filings. This form is required for people with individual retirement accounts who earn certain types of business income within retirement plans. While the forms for individuals are supposed to be confidential, charities that generate certain types of income are also required to file Form 990-T, and those are intended to be public. An employee mistakenly uploaded private taxpayers’ data to the agency’s website along with the public charity data.
Individual Risk: Severe
Exposed taxpayer data includes names, contact information, and financial information about IRA income The exposed data did not include Social Security numbers, full individual income information, detailed financial account data, or other information that could impact a taxpayer’s credit.
Stress on your Business:
Human error is the top cause of cybersecurity trouble, but training helps reduce the risk of a data disaster related to employee mistakes.
How Sieve can help:
If you have ever received a data breach notification, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. To learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft contact us at 414.238.2110 or at [email protected] and we will provide you with specific tools that protect you from today’s security risks.
