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2017 FAFSA Data Retrieval Tool — 100,000 records

2017 100.0K records affected Share on X

Data compromised

Names, AGI, tax information

Technical writeup

Apr 2017. Up to 100,000 taxpayers had personal data compromised via IRS Data Retrieval Tool used for FAFSA. Identity thieves used stolen PII to initiate FAFSA applications and retrieve adjusted gross income. Unauthorized access detected since Sep 2016. IRS shut down tool in Mar 2017; restored Oct 2017 with enhanced encryption.

Root cause

Abuse of IRS Data Retrieval Tool; identity theft.

References