Vinnie Troia, the CEO of Night Lion Security and a computer hacking forensic investigator stated that even though the IRS cancelled its contract with e-mail backup service, the agency’s e-mails are still stored off-site and should be retrievable. Troia pointed out that “even according to the 2012 and 2013 audits which were performed on the IRS systems, they were shown to have back-ups that were fully functional, back-ups that were offsite and tested to be properly off-site,” adding “those back-ups do exist somewhere. It is just a matter of finding them and going after them.”
He also reported that the 2013 audit of the IRS’ computer services showed that “the IRS is ignoring really basic fundamental security procedures like even updating their systems.” The report also stated that unless the IRS improved its security “taxpayer data will remain vulnerable to inappropriate use, modification or disclosure possibly without being detected.”
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