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List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] IRS Computer Security Still Lax
From:       mea culpa <jericho () dimensional ! com>
Date:       1999-01-27 16:49:44
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Forwarded From: Ama-gi ISPI <ispi4privacy@earthlink.net>
Courtest of ISPI Clips 8.43

IRS Computer Security Still Lax
http://www.wired.com/news/news/business/story/17347.html
by Polly Sprenger

After they finish with the headache of preparing annual forms, most
taxpayers trust that their information is safe enough in the hands of the
Internal Revenue Service.  But a new report from the General Accounting
Office could have taxpayers more concerned. 

The report states that although security for the IRS computer system has
improved since the GAO's last audit, serious issues still haven't been
addressed. 

"These weaknesses exist primarily because the IRS has not yet fully
institutionalized its computer security management programs," the report
concludes. "Sensitive taxpayer data entrusted to the IRS could be
disclosed to unauthorized individuals ... thereby exposing taxpayers to
loss or damages resulting from identity fraud and other financial crimes." 

The GAO said the agency could not control physical or electronic access to
sensitive computing systems, and didn't have software to detect when an
electronic hack had occurred on the system. The report also said the IRS
didn't have a thorough disaster recovery plan. 

The report is in response to a Senate inquiry into IRS security abuses and
deficiencies launched by Senators John Glenn (D-Ohio) and Fred Thompson
(R-Tennessee) in April 1997. 

The report said that since the GAO's audit, conducted at six unnamed
regional IRS offices, 63 percent of the agency's deficiencies have been
corrected. 

-o-
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