On Tuesday, the IRS said that personal tax information of more than 100,000 taxpayers has been stolen. The information was stolen from an online system called 'Get Transcript'. The system is used by taxpayers to get tax returns and other tax fillings from earlier years.

The IRS has been informing taxpayers whose information was accessed and is also providing them with credit monitoring services. The IRS said that thieves cleared a security screen, which required knowledge of the taxpayer and other information like Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address.

A criminal investigation into the matter has been started. Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen said, "We're confident that these are not amateurs. These actually are organized crime syndicates that not only we but everybody in the financial industry are dealing with".

It has been found that the thieves actually tried to access about 200,000 taxpayer accounts, but were able to have access of half of them. The IRS termed the cyber attack a 'sophisticated effort', as thieves used personal information from the taxpayers and used the system in the same manner as it was designed.

The security breach is a reminder for people to protect their personal information. Experts suggested that people should be careful what information they are providing and its purpose. IRS thinks that thieves might have accessed the accounts to use them for identity for next year's tax season.