A proposed class-action lawsuit has been brought against the IRS.  As we shared over the past two months, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) suffered a four-month long cyber data breach in which hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ accounts were compromised through the Get Transcript application, and the citizens are striking back.

In the suit, brought by four US law firms on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of affected taxpayers, the IRS is accused of not taking the proper precautions to protect its systems and keeping the personal data of its citizens safe.   The complaint says that the IRS had received multiple reports that the systems did not have adequate security, but did not act on the tips.  Additionally, they allege that the IRS’ process for verifying transcript requests is vulnerable to exploitation, and all the information to ‘verify’ one’s identity could be found on the Internet or answered correctly by random guesses by a ‘highly-motivated individual.’

The plaintiffs listed in the suit are two Texas women who were victims of the breach, who are also seeking monetary damages for their current and future losses, as their information could be used by the hackers to commit future fraud against them.  The plaintiffs are also seeking to represent all taxpayers (approximately 600,000) affected by the breach, spinning this suit into individual and class action suits.

The IRS has yet to comment on the lawsuit.