Thieving Hackers Accessed 100,000 US Taxpayers' Information

U.S. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of data thefts that have alarmed American consumers, Tax return information for about 100,000 U.S. taxpayers was illegally accessed by cyber criminals over the past four months. From February to May, attackers sought to gain access to personal tax information 200,000 times through the agency's "Get Transcript" online application, which calls up information from previous returns, he told a news conference. About half of those attempts were successful. The breach did not affect any IRS data outside the "Get Transcript" application, and the agency said it would strengthen its security measures.