Still Think Your Identity Is Safe? Read This

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发布日期: 2015年8月24日
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Still Think Your Identity Is Safe? Read This

By Justin Brill

Saturday, August 22, 2015

 

If you've used a credit card to purchase something in the past few years, there's a serious chance that your identity has been stolen…

In the past two years alone, hackers have gained access to 40 million credit-card numbers from retail giant Target… nearly 60 million credit-card numbers from home-improvement store Home Depot… and nearly 80 million records – including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, and more – from health insurer Anthem.

In May, hackers broke into computers at the IRS, stealing tax information from hundreds of thousands of people. As we explained in the May 28 Digest…

According to an IRS statement, criminals used stolen taxpayer-specific information – including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and home addresses – acquired from "non-IRS sources" to gain access to the IRS' online "Get Transcript" service.

Get Transcript allows taxpayers to access prior-year tax returns and other information. It's believed the hackers intended to use this information to file fraudulent tax returns and collect taxpayer refunds next year.

The IRS says the hackers made 200,000 total attempts to gain access to the service, successfully accessing the accounts of approximately 100,000 taxpayers. The agency said it has temporarily shut down online access to the Get Transcript service until it "makes modifications and further strengthens security for it." Taxpayers who need copies of prior-year tax returns can still request them by mail.

The IRS says it will be sending out letters this week to notify all 200,000 taxpayers whose accounts had attempted unauthorized access. It will also be offering free credit monitoring to the 100,000 individuals whose accounts were hacked.


On Monday, the IRS announced that the final number of people who may have had their data stolen was actually 334,000 – more than triple the number the agency had originally reported.

The IRS believes the hackers are part of a group operating out of Russia. An article from the Associated Press noted that it wouldn't be the first time hackers from overseas had taken advantage of the IRS…

In 2012, the IRS sent a total of 655 tax refunds to a single address in Lithuania, and 343 refunds went to a lone address in Shanghai, according to a report by the agency's inspector general. The IRS has since added safeguards to prevent similar schemes, but the criminals are innovating as well.

An article on financial-news website MarketWatch explained that the hackers gained access to these records by successfully guessing people's personal-verification security questions…

Clearly, the answers to those questions were not only known to those taxpayers. Google researchers recently released a white paper reaching that conclusion as well. They studied hundreds of millions of secret answers and account recovery claims and found that while secret questions seem like a great idea, in practice, they fail. People choose questions with obvious answers, or the questions are so difficult that the user doesn't recall the response at all.

"Many personal knowledge questions have common answers shared by many in the user population which an adversary might successfully guess," the paper says. For 16% of questions, the answers were listed in social-networking profiles. Others were easily found in public records, and some questions had few plausible answers in the first place.


Our colleague Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig has been urging readers to improve their online security for years. In fact, he explained how to improve your security verification – which likely would have protected folks from this IRS hack – in the December 24, 2012 DailyWealth.

But the most important takeaway from this story – and the many others like it – extends far beyond identity theft…

Over the past dozen years, the U.S. government has increased its efforts to "protect" its citizens. It created the Department of Homeland Security and various other agencies that exist to fight both physical terrorism and cyberterrorism.

But despite the billions of taxpayer dollars spent – and the growing concerns over intrusions into our privacy – incidents like these show you can't rely on the government to protect you or your family from the real threats of today's modern world.

That's one of the reasons Doc felt compelled to write The Doctor's Protocol Field Manual. Whether it's protecting your "digital life"… exiting a burning building… enduring an extended power outage… moving some assets offshore… or any number of possible adversities you're likely to face today, this book will give you the tools you need to protect the wellbeing of you and your family.

Doc says readers who follow these simple guidelines will gain a level of confidence and security most folks can only dream about. Click here for more details and learn how you can claim a copy today for just $13 plus shipping.

Regards,

Justin Brill

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