KMA Land - IRS security flaws concern Young

News Article

By Mike Peterson

How secure is the information provided to the Internal Revenue Service on tax returns?

As millions of Americans rush to file their returns before the April 15th deadline, Iowa 3rd District Congressman David Young is sounding alarms over possible IRS security leaks that could benefit identity thieves. In an interview during KMA's 7:35 news segment Wednesday morning, the Van Meter Republican discussed a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office citing significant "unnecessary vulnerable" security weaknesses within the IRS.

"Last year, approximately 330,000 identities of taxpayers were compromised by cybercriminals," said Young. "Within that data, there's sensitive information regarding money routed to the IRS each year, and the safety and security of the American taxpayers' personal information needs to be protected."

Young says the leaks threaten the personal information of millions of Americans. At the same time, the congressman says the IRS has been slow to implement increased security measures.

"The GAO said the IRS has failed to implement parts of the agency's own information security program," he said. "So, the IRS has its own security program. They're not implementing many parts of it. That's one of the underlying reasons for the weakness."

He says the federal government, in general, is slow to respond to issues at the IRS. That's why Young believes more oversight of the agency is necessary.

"This should have been (done) a long time ago," said the congressman. "We shouldn't have to be doing oversight on this. They should know--the federal government should know--there's cybercriminals out there, whether they're foreign governments, hackers, or crime gangs out there, penetrating us on a daily basis. And not just the IRS, but all parts of the government, as well."

The GAO released a separate report citing 43 different recommendations of corrections the IRS must make. But, Young says he's not waiting for the agency to act. In addition to submitting report language requiring the IRS to address and report on security fraud issues, he says the Secret Service has indicated a willingness to work with the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee to troubleshoot security leaks.

"They're excited about the bipartisan task force I've formed to protect identity and prevent fraud, and want to work on this," he said.

Source