The Inland Revenue conducted an investigation and found that the
problem was created by session cookies which left the users
vulnerable. The Revenue claims that only 47 of 27,967 taxpayers
that used the service since April 2002 had their details
compromised.
In a notification posted on its web site, the department
expressed its regrets for the incident. The notification included
the following statement: “We hope our thorough and independently
endorsed investigation will give our customers confidence about
using the service in the future.”
The Revenue has launched a similar on-line service for corporate
tax returns, that will be available in November. A spokeswoman for
the department said: “I can understand if this has raised concerns
for businesses. However, it is highly unlikely we will have any
security problems.”
Last month, the Revenue was also forced to suspend plans to
communicate with millions of taxpayers by e-mail, after a trial
involving 300 employees found that serious issues regarding the
security of confidential information needed to be addressed.
