IRS Data Breach History

This page tracks the IRS data breach history and cybersecurity incidents affecting IRS. BreachHistory currently indexes 4 publicly disclosed or catalogued incidents spanning 2014 through 2017, with approximately 28.4 million records reported as exposed across all indexed events. These totals may include overlapping datasets or third-party estimates and should not be interpreted as unique affected users.

The IRS breach timeline includes major data breaches, cyber attacks, data leaks, credential exposures, API abuse, and other security incidents. Each incident provides details on the estimated records exposed, attack method, affected data types, and supporting public sources. Currently, 0 incidents are company-confirmed, while 1 remain unverified claims pending independent verification.

Largest IRS Data Breaches

The largest indexed incidents include the 2016 — IRS: A recent report from the Treasury Inspector General…, the 2017 FAFSA Data Retrieval Tool — 100,000 records, and the 2015 — IRS: An unnamed cybermafia used an IRS app to download…, along with additional historical incidents involving exposed passwords, public databases, and large-scale data scraping. Record counts originating from threat actors or leak sites should be treated as estimates unless confirmed by IRS or a regulator. Below is the list of large data breaches:

• 2016 2016 — IRS: A recent report from the Treasury Inspector General… — about 28.2M records exposed · Catalogued incident
• 2017 2017 FAFSA Data Retrieval Tool — 100,000 records — about 100.0K records exposed · Catalogued incident
• 2015 2015 — IRS: An unnamed cybermafia used an IRS app to download… — about 100.0K records exposed · Unverified claim
• 2014 2014 — IRS: A former emloyee of the IRS took home a computer… — about 20.0K records exposed · Catalogued incident

What Information Was Exposed?

Depending on the incident, exposed data may include names, and other personal information (PII). The exact data varies between incidents, so review each breach page before assuming your information was affected.

IRS Data Breach 2026

At the time of this update, no IRS data breach has been catalogued for 2026. New incidents are added as official disclosures, regulatory filings, or credible cybersecurity reports become available.

What To Do If You Were Affected

If you believe your account may have been involved in a IRS data breach, change any reused passwords, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA), monitor your account for suspicious activity, and be cautious of phishing emails or fake breach notifications.

This IRS breach history is maintained by BreachHistory using public disclosures, regulatory filings, security research, and clearly labelled third-party claims. For the complete breach timeline, records exposed, incident details, and AI Breach Risk Score, explore the sections on this page.