FBI Probes Rash of Fraudulent State Tax Returns Filed Through TurboTax

[WilliamPitt]

FBI Probes Rash of Fraudulent State Tax Returns Filed Through TurboTax
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-turbotax-fbi-20150212-story.html

Hm.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. Was the data breach at TT or was TT simply the vehicle by which the stolen data was applied?

[WilliamPitt]

2. My source

who is in the biz says TT was breached. They say otherwise, because of course they do. I find the FBI's involvement intriguing, to say the least.

[snooper2]

3. you should ask your source "in the biz" about what database encryption they are running...

I actually know since I have a friend that works for them right here in Plano TX LOL...

Did you know they are really big on open source? no...huh?



He's only been there about 8 months after leaving NTTA though so your source is probably smarter right?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

4. The news I've read so far says the data was obtained elsewhere.

Perhaps your source is a competitor or deflecting. Has that been investigated?

[WilliamPitt]

6. The ones saying it was "obtained elsewhere"

are Intuit PR flacks. No one else has said anything publicly.

A lot of people around here are very eager to embrace corporate PR press releases. One wonders why.

[PeaceNikki]

8. Because they are required by law to disclose data breaches.

Did you know that? Does your "source" know that?

Also: Occam's Razor. There were over 80 million data sets stolen in the Anthem breach. From your link:

"You are seeing the dawn of a new era where third-party payment services are used to fraudulently get money from the government," said Jim Penrose, former chief of the Operational Discovery Center at the National Security Agency.

Penrose, now executive vice president at the cybersecurity start-up Darktrace, said cybercriminals may have lifted names, Social Security numbers and other personal data from other companies and used that information in fake tax returns.

Hackers could have picked up additional pertinent information, such as the number of children in a household, by sending malware to a taxpayer's laptop or doing a simple search online of publicly available information.

Then digital thieves may have pinpointed states with less rigid security safeguards and looser verification systems, hoping for a big payday once refunds came in, Penrose said.

"You will see a lot more of this in 2015 where cybercriminals figure out how to monetize" data in new ways, including tax fraud and fake medical claims, Penrose said.

That portion is not from Intuit's people.

[Rex]

5. Yeah but you posted about it, so there will be cries from the peanut gallery.

Oh nm...I see it's already started.

[Xyzse]

7. Well, just a thank you for checking up on this.

I personally use H&R Block's software.

Even if this was not an actual hack on TurboTax, I would still prefer knowing such events.
It is still in verification process any how, and I am treating it as such.