Apple Hacked!~

And you thought your data was safe with the IRS:
http://intellihub.com/2013/07/09/irs-published-online-thousands-of-social-security-numbers/

accsys - I did not probe further into this with my tax person. I just wanted to get the estate monkey off my back.

I do think that there was more to it than a concern that it was possible for a hacker to gain access to the IRS's computers.

This company also keeps books of record and does financial planning for clients, sets up brokerage accounts, invests people's money for them, etc. So maybe they were also concerned that if they sent hundreds of electronic filings to the IRS, that it could be like advertising that their files were worth hacking into. Just a wild guess.

naturist wrote:

JRS & B wrote:
It's just today's reality.
{SNIP}
No one is immune, not Apple, nor the IRS.

Yup. Apple is a Big Target, along with all the other Forbes 100, every single one of which is under constant attack. Along with the IRS, the Defense Department, etc.

The ONLY reason they aren't already in YOUR computer (if, indeed, they aren't, which isn't certain) is that you are too small to have crossed their radar.

I believe when the smart phones came out, that is EXACTLY when they got into all our lives. Come on does any when really think that when they suggested linking to I-tunes, Cloud,and our home computers for a better experience, (and later making it almost impossible to use your phone if you didn't)....that it didn't happen right then and there?

accsys wrote:
That's about insane! :E That accounting firm is way behind the times and doesn't understand the problems or technology at all. The same information still winds up in the computer after the IRS keys it in from the paper forms and is just as hackable as if they had e-filed it. They will have to send it in electronically in the future as all tax preparers are required to do so unless they prepare a very few returns.

Wrong-O -
When you send any of these agencies hard copy, it gets machine scanned and the digital result is all that is fed into the system. They just want to not have to scan and verify that the scan matches the hard copy. They are trying to save their (our) money with your money. If you send them a digital file created by any of the software packages or online systems, you have no way at all of knowing exactly how much information they actually received. If it was ever on your computer, it could have been picked up and sent along.

Just wait until next year when you have to send them your medical history and they have no means or even any reason to keep it confidential.

Remember, you voted for it.....

Matt

Apple used to advertise how their computers did not "Catch Cold" like Poor Computers (PCs) do..

No, they don't Hardly ever catch cold.. (Easily cured) when they get sick, It's THE FLU (Not so easily cured) (Think of the ad for that anti-flu)

JRS & B wrote:
It's just today's reality.

I hired an accounting firm to handle the taxes for my parents estate.

When the IRS gave them flack for doing their numerous clients' taxes on a computer, but still submitting only hard copy to the IRS, they told the IRS that, "Unless you guaranty us that no one can gain access to our clients' information, we are going to continue to send in hard copy."

The IRS offered no such guaranty and just dropped the issue.

No one is immune, not Apple, nor the IRS.

That's about insane! :E That accounting firm is way behind the times and doesn't understand the problems or technology at all. The same information still winds up in the computer after the IRS keys it in from the paper forms and is just as hackable as if they had e-filed it. They will have to send it in electronically in the future as all tax preparers are required to do so unless they prepare a very few returns.

JRS & B wrote:
It's just today's reality.
{SNIP}
No one is immune, not Apple, nor the IRS.

Yup. Apple is a Big Target, along with all the other Forbes 100, every single one of which is under constant attack. Along with the IRS, the Defense Department, etc.

The ONLY reason they aren't already in YOUR computer (if, indeed, they aren't, which isn't certain) is that you are too small to have crossed their radar.

It's just today's reality.

I hired an accounting firm to handle the taxes for my parents estate.

When the IRS gave them flack for doing their numerous clients' taxes on a computer, but still submitting only hard copy to the IRS, they told the IRS that, "Unless you guaranty us that no one can gain access to our clients' information, we are going to continue to send in hard copy."

The IRS offered no such guaranty and just dropped the issue.

No one is immune, not Apple, nor the IRS.