South Carolina's Recent State Tax Return Breach

So, this week's reading discussed Firewalls and encryption.  Very ironic considering the piece seen on the MSN front page on Wednesday afternoon.  "Data Breach Targets 3.6M taxpayers" the headline screamed from the screen.  Naturally, being inquisitive as I am, and considering my current Degree pursuit, I had to click on the headline and get the details.  As I read, I had to shake my head.

Apparently, citizens that have filed a South Carolina tax return anytime since 1998 are at risk of having their identity stolen.  Hackers accessed the state Department of Revenue server in August of this year and accessed 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 debit and credit cards.  Five thousand of those debit and credit cards were expired, and the Department claims that the rest were expired.

However, the 3.6 million Americans who had their Social Security numbers stolen will have to monitor their credit for many years to come.  These people include children who do not even know what a Social Security number is, yet they may end up learning the hard way because of this breach. 

Apparently hackers like to target state and local governments who are either unwilling or unable to sufficiently secure their information.  From late September through mid-October of this year damaging hacks were reported by the City of Burlington, WA, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in Baltimore, MD, the town Council of Chapel Hill, NC, the Robeson County Board of elections in Lumberton, NC, the Brightline Interactive, Army chief of Public Affairs office in Alexandria, VA, the City of Tulsa, OK, and the town of Willimantic, CT, and these are just the entities that have willingly disclosed breaches.

Only one in four State Chief Information Security Officers nationwide report that they are confident in the ability of their State to stand against an attack on data from an external cyberattack.

In the South Carolina instance, the State has negotiated a $12 deal with Experian in order to provide the affected people, who sign up, a free year of credit monitoring, a lifetime of fraud resolution with personalized assistance if an account is opened in their name.  This offier also applies to children that have been effected.

Of course, that State has recommended that victims immeddiatly begin to monitor their credit reports, and bank and credit card accounts for any suspicious activities.

I just begin to wonder, with this occurring over and over when will Government entities and businesses realize how at risk their data is.  Information security seems to be the last thought and the last place anyone wants to invest money, giving hackers the opportunity to ruin the everyday man's credit.

References

Datko, K. (2012, October 30). MSN Money. Retrieved from msn.com: http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=99d34310-0d33-44f2-9981-b2dc18667074