Just as the IRS is implementing a six-year roadmap to modernize its systems, the Government Accountability Office has detected 14 new information security snafus in the agency’s computer systems.
The GAO states in a new report that during its fiscal year 2018 audit of the IRS, it found new information system security control deficiencies including weaknesses in access controls and in procedures to help ensure information systems are operating securely. “Weaknesses like these place IRS’ systems and data at risk,” GAO said. “IRS must keep its computer systems secure to protect sensitive financial and taxpayer information.”
GAO said the 14 new infractions, “while not collectively considered a material weakness, were important enough to merit attention by those charged with governance of IRS and therefore represented a significant deficiency in IRS’s internal control over its financial reporting systems.”
GAO assessed whether the IRS had effective controls in place to safeguard this information in the past and again during fiscal year 2018.
As of Sept. 30, 2018, GAO said that the IRS had completed corrective actions to address deficiencies associated with 46 of the 154 recommendations from its prior financial audits that we reported as open as of last July.