IRS Exposes Tens Of Thousands Of Social Security numbers

The Internal Revenue Service accidentally exposed the Social Security numbers of tens of thousands of people. That's according to an audit by Public.Resource.org, a transparency watchdog. NextGov reports, the numbers were only on the Internet for less than a day. They were connected to non-profit political groups called 527s. The numbers were mistakenly included in a database of tax-exempt status seekers, which the IRS routinely makes public. Public Resources founder, Carl Malamud, pointed out the mistake to the IRS, which scrubbed the database a day later.