Dem blames Congress for poor IRS cybersecurity

A top Senate Democrat is pointing the finger at his colleagues for forcing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to compromise on digital security.

Over the last year, the IRS has been roundly bashed on Capitol Hill for allowing hackers to pilfer hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ data.

{mosads}But at a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday with IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) called out his fellow lawmakers for failing to give the agency proper funds to improve its cybersecurity.  

“When it comes to protecting American taxpayers’ sensitive information online, Congress continues to ask the IRS to do more with less by enacting deep and damaging cuts to the agency’s budget,” Carper said.

Carper, the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, has been a main upper chamber champion of legislation to bolster federal cyber defenses. He ushered through a series of small-bore bills in 2014 that clarified the cyber duties of various agencies and improved the government’s ability to hire and retain a cyber workforce.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Carper chastised his colleagues for withholding needed funds from the IRS.

“Over the last five fiscal years, with roughly a 10 percent reduction in funding from 2010 to 2015, Congress has cornered the IRS into cherry picking what services it can afford to provide American taxpayers,” he said.

Cybersecurity is one service the IRS has struggled with. Last August, the agency revealed that hackers had been able to swipe sensitive information about more than 300,000 taxpayers. More recently, a number of the agency’s tax processing systems went down because of technical problems.

Koskinen had to rebuff criticism for these incidents at Tuesday’s hearing.

He noted the agency is fighting an unprecedented volume of cyber criminals. The IRS has also implemented 80 of the Government Accountability Office’s cybersecurity recommendations over the last few years, the agency head added.

But Carper is worried that continued funding shortages will make it impossible for Koskinen to keep up in his battle against hackers.

“I’m concerned that these successive budget cuts may be pennywise and pound foolish when it comes to the agency’s cybersecurity efforts and the agency’s ability to protect American taxpayers’ information online,” Carper said.