In the latest The Security Podcasts episode, Tom Thimot, CEO of authID.ai, offers a unique perspective on the concerns raised around ID.me’s technology, where they went wrong with the IRS, and the drawbacks of facial recognition technology. 

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the implementation of mandatory facial recognition in order to access some government services. This may increase cybersecurity and data privacy risks.

Tigran Gambaryan and Matthew Price, two former special agents at the Internal Revenue Service, join the audit and investigations team at the cryptocurrency firm Binance and work to ensure cybersecurity in crypto transactions.

In light of the reports of theft of COVID-19 stimulus checks (which one headline called “​pure hell”​), it’s instructive to look back at recent breaches of IRS systems and processes.

To combat the problem, the IRS updated its computer files to identify more fraudulent returns, and the major tax preparers have increased their security. However, as individuals’ tax returns are becoming more difficult to manipulate, thieves are taking aim at data belonging to tax return preparers and tax professionals, the payroll community, small employers and human resource departments.

The IRS failed to do background checks on some private contractors who handled confidential taxpayer information, exposing more than a million taxpayers to an increased risk of fraud and identity theft.