GAO discussed: (1) Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees' electronic
browsing of taxpayer files; and (2) IRS' fiscal years (FYs) 1998 and
1999 budget requests for tax systems modernization (TSM) development.
GAO noted that: (1) on April 8, 1997, GAO issued a report disclosing
many serious computer security weaknesses at IRS; (2) these weaknesses
make IRS computer resources and taxpayer data unnecessarily vulnerable
to external threats, such as natural disasters and people with malicious
intentions; (3) they also expose taxpayer data to internal threats, such
as employees accessing taxpayer files for purposes unrelated to their
jobs (for example, reading the files of celebrities or neighbors) or
making unauthorized changes to taxpayer data, either inadvertently or
deliberately for personal gain (for example, to initiate unauthorized
refunds or abatements of tax); (4) such unauthorized and improper
browsing of taxpayer records has been the focus of considerable
attention in recent years; (5) nevertheless, GAO's report shows that IRS
is not effectively addressing the problem; (6) IRS still does not
effectively monitor employee activity, accurately record browsing
violations, consistently punish offenders, or widely publicize reports
of incidents detected and penalties imposed; (7) compounding IRS'
serious and persistent computer security and employee browsing problems
are equally serious and persistent TSM management and technical problems
that must be corrected if IRS is to effectively invest in TSM; (8) IRS
is requesting $1.131 billion in FYs 1998 and 1999 for TSM development
and deployment; (9) however, IRS does not know how it will spend this
$1.131 billion and has not yet corrected the management and technical
problems that IRS has acknowledged have resulted in hundreds of millions
of dollars being wasted thus far on TSM; and (10) this is inconsistent
with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 and the
Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996, which require that information technology
investments be supported by convincing business case analyses and
disciplined management and technical processes.
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