Data theft at the tax authorities: hard drive stolen from Amsterdam tax building | Inland

It concerns a hard disk from a computer with which physical documents were scanned, such as tax returns, objections and requests for remission. Despite the theft from the tax office on Herikerbergweg in Zuidoost, the data is not yet out on the street. The criminals will first have to bypass the disk’s security.

Network error

Institutions not only store their data on special network servers, but are increasingly making physical copies. During a major network outage, you can continue working, says internet expert Danny Mekić. “But then it is important that you also store that disc properly.”

In 2019, a similar thing happened at insurer Allianz. Then a physical disk was stolen containing the data of nearly 2.3 million customers. Earlier this week, there was a large data breach at a large web store that sells cables.

Criminals use this kind of privacy-sensitive information to commit identity fraud.

A well-known form is fraud via WhatsApp. People then receive text messages from ‘friends’ or ‘family members’ with a request to transfer money, while in reality they are scammers who are behind the keys. Things really have to change now, says Mekić. “We are moving from a phase where we thought we could keep things safe, to a period when we discover that it cannot be secured one hundred percent,” says the ICT expert.

“Sooner or later you will end up in a data breach. We will have to organize our society to ensure that it remains safe. ” Mekić: “For example, we now have a social security number. That number is irreplaceable. What we need to move towards is a society in which you can generate a unique number with which you can identify yourself once with a party and immediately block a leaked BSN number. ”

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