A war is being waged between computer hackers and the United States federal government, U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts said in a Senate committee hearing Tuesday.
Roberts spoke briefly during a Senate Finance Committee hearing. The hearing, attended by Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen and IRS Inspector General Russell George, centered on a hack of the IRS in recent months.
According to IRS estimates, hackers gained access to about 100,000 tax accounts during a hack that began in February and was uncovered last week.
“There’s a war going on,” Roberts said Monday. “On one side we have the government, taxpayers and business and on the other, hackers, criminals, organized syndicates and lone wolves. Perhaps even national governments.”
The IRS believes the hackers used the “Get Transcript” application, which allows taxpayers to view their account transactions and tax return information, to steal Social Security information, dates of birth and addresses. The hackers are believed to have used information stolen from elsewhere to answer security questions within “Get Transcript” and then sell the stolen Social Security information.
“The agency, the inspector general, the (Government Accountability Office), the committees with oversight have been concerned about these threats for years,” Roberts said. “The GAO reported this March that the data under control of the IRS is ‘unnecessarily vulnerable to inappropriate and undetected use.’ ”
Twice in his speech and three times in prepared statements Roberts used the term “war” when referring to efforts to prevent hackers from taking information from the federal government.
“Right now, it looks like we’re losing this war so we certainly need to use this latest breach to consider how we can regroup and win the fight,” the Republican said. “My concern is whether the IRS has the tools and mindset to achieve better security and whether it is even capable of safeguarding this core function.”
The hackers are believed to have submitted over 200,000 queries to the IRS website between February and May of this year. Roberts said Tuesday that foreign hackers are believed to have been involved.
“I am amazed, because my staff tells me that just prior to the breach being made public, privacy experts were in to brief them on how safe the data contained in the Get Transcript system is,” Roberts said in prepared remarks. “I guess they were off the mark.”
Roberts also made reference to a scandal dating back to 2013 in which IRS employees are alleged to have targeted conservative and Tea Party organizations receiving tax exemptions but not similar left-leaning groups.
“Apparently, IRS has no problem at all protecting data and information pertaining to the targeting of conservative groups applying for exempt status, yet has little capacity to safeguard the critical financial information of the average taxpayer,” Roberts said.
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