IRS ‘Mistake’ Exposes Huge Number of Social Security Numbers on Public Website!

Another scandal for the troubled IRS.

According to the watchdog group Public.Resource.org,  the IRS posted the Social Security numbers of at least 100,000 people on a website that lists tax-exempt groups.

Public.Resource says they came across the numbers on an IRS database that lists tax-exempt political groups, known as 527's.   The group was working on audit of unrelated material when they came across the numbers.   Public.Resource was investigating what they called an improperly vetted shipment of IRS data on DVD's when they found the security breach.

Most of the numbers belonged to donors who had contributed to various tax-exempt political organizations. The IRS shut down the website Monday, it was still down Monday night.  People who attempted to access the 527 portion of the IRS website were shown a message asking them to check back later.

From FoxNews.com:

"Public.Resource.org. founder Carl Malamud told FoxNews.com on Monday night that roughly 100,000 Social Security numbers were exposed.

 

Malamud said in a statement on the group's website that it hopes the Obama administration will act to restore access to the agency's nonprofit database and resolve its concerns over what it described as a "serious violation of federal law."

Malamud also said the federal government needs to step in decisively and help the IRS fix the serious issues with it's information management practices.   No information was given as to the political affiliation of the people who's numbers were exposed, or what groups were affected.