The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced it is retiring the e-Filing PIN system following a new wave of cyber-attacks after crooks previously abused the same system last February.
In a statement on the IRS website, the agency says it was planning to eliminate the e-File PIN system later this year, but it decided to expedite its decision after they detected another set of cyber-attacks against its online tool.
Hackers abused the tool last February
Last February, the IRS announced it detected an automated bot attack during which unknown crooks tried to illicitly generate e-Filing PINs for over 464,000 Americans. The IRS admitted that crooks got access to 101,000 e-Filing PINs.
The IRS uses the e-Filing PIN system to generate a unique PIN that Americans can use on their Form 1040 to file for tax returns. The PIN is not mandatory but only serves as an alternative to authenticating the document. US citizens can also use their prior-year adjusted gross income from copies of their previous year tax returns.