Last year’s IRS cyber attack may have accessed 700,000 accounts

The Internal Revenue Service already increased the total number of accounts accessed in last year’s cyber attack once. Today, it’s raising the number gain. The IRS announced that during a 9-month review of the incident, it discovered that an additional 390,000 taxpayer accounts were potentially accessed during the breach. Those accounts are in addition to the confirmed access of and initial 114,000 last May and the subsequent 220,000 that were added in August. For those keeping track at home, today’s announcement brings the total to over 700,000 affected tax payers.

The IRS says that aside from today’s increase of the total potentially accessed accounts, another 295,000 taxpayer transcripts were targeted, but the attempts to nab that info were unsuccessful. It also reiterated that the Get Transcript tool that was the target of the breach has been offline since last may when the cyber attack was discovered. Notices to those who are included in this new group will go out next week and those affected will receive a year of Equifax identity theft protection free of charge.

“We are moving quickly to help these taxpayers,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

Earlier this month, identity thieves nabbed 100,000 e-file PINs. With that information, fake returns can be filed in an attempt to cash in on bogus refunds. With tax season in full swing, the IRS already has a lot on its plate. It looks like keeping this year’s taxpayer info locked down just got bumped to tops on the to-do list.

Via: USA Today

Source: IRS

EVs will cost the same as gas-powered cars by 2025

If the price of EVs is what’s keeping you from giving up your gas guzzler, you may not have to wait long for the prices to come down. In a study released today, Bloomberg New Energy Finance says that the cost of electric vehicles will continue to drop as the batteries that power them get cheaper. Even with lower oil prices, EVs will be able to compete with gasoline and diesel automobiles in terms of price by the mid 2020s. The BNEF report also forecasts that EVs will make up 35 percent of new “light duty vehicle” sales worldwide by 2040, or 41 million automobiles annually.

Even before 2025, the prices of EVs will come down, but the total cost of ownership will still be cheaper for fuel-burning cars. In terms of the environmental implications, if a quarter of the vehicles on the road in 2040 are EVs, that will replace 13 million barrels per day of crude oil. However, it means 1,900TWh of electricity will be required, or about 8 percent of global electricity demand from last year.

“In the next few years, the total-cost-of-ownership advantage will continue to lie with conventional cars, and we therefore do not expect EVs to exceed 5 percent of light duty vehicle sales in most markets — except where subsidies make up the difference,” said Salim Morsy, senior analyst and author of the study. “However, that cost comparison is set to change radically in the 2020s.”

Via: Computerworld

Source: Bloomberg New Energy Finance

‘Dark Souls’ publisher brings ‘Necropolis’ to PS4, Xbox One

Here’s one to add to your video game watch list: Necropolis is a stylish, hardcore dungeon-diving game from Harebrained Schemes, the studio behind the magnificent cyberpunk title Shadowrun Returns. It was originally due to hit PC and Mac on March 17th, but now Dark Souls publisher Bandai Namco is involved and the times, they are a-changing.

Necropolis is now due to hit PC, Mac, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the summer, with Bandai handling the console publishing duties. Harebrained Schemes is self-publishing the game on Steam.

“While we really hate to slip a release date, we know from experience that doing a console release right adds a significant amount of development work,” Harebrained Schemes President Mitch Gitelman says in a press release. “So we believe this is absolutely the right decision, and that the additional time will make for an even better Necropolis for consoles and for PC.”

Necropolis is an action title where players have just one life to defeat hordes of ghastly beasties in ever-changing, procedurally generated dungeons. It features crafting and four-player drop-in co-op, plus an art style that is both moody and adorable at the same time. It looks like an effortlessly cool game, which should make it perfect for the summer.

Tim Cook Teases Apple Car: ‘It’s Going to Be Christmas Eve for a While’

Apple CEO Tim Cook has remained tight lipped about the so-called “Apple Car,” but today he dropped a hint about the much-rumored electric vehicle at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Cupertino (via Business Insider).

Do you remember when you were a kid, and Christmas Eve it was so exciting, you weren’t sure what was going to be downstairs? Well, it’s going to be Christmas Eve for a while.

Cook’s comment suggests that, if such a project exists, the purported “Apple Car” will not be publicly revealed for quite some time — in line with reports claiming Apple is currently targeting a 2019 or 2020 production date.

Apple has recruited hundreds of engineers from Tesla, Ford, GM, Samsung, A123 Systems, Nvidia, and elsewhere, likely to work on the purported car project, which has allegedly been called “Project Titan” internally. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently said it is an “open secret” that Apple is developing an electric car, based on its number of recent automotive-related hirings.

Other evidence that points towards Apple’s interest in the automotive industry includes its discussions with a secure Bay Area testing facility for connected and autonomous vehicles and its meeting with the California DMV to review self-driving vehicle regulations in 2015. More recently, Sunnyvale residents have reported hearing loud “motor”-sounding noises at night on a campus where Apple leases at least one building.

When questioned about the “Apple Car” in a recent interview, Cook provided a more elaborate non-answer:

Yeah, I’m probably not going to do that. The great thing about being here is we’re curious people. We explore technologies, and we explore products.

And we’re always thinking about ways that Apple can make great products that people love, that help them in some way. And we don’t go into very many categories, as you know. We edit very much. We talk about a lot of things and do fewer. We debate many things and do a lot fewer.

Apple’s internal “Project Titan” team has reportedly faced some obstacles over the past month. In January, supposed “Apple Car” project lead Steve Zadesky informed colleagues that he would be leaving the company for personal reasons. Then, just a few days later, it was reported the “Apple Car” team is on a hiring freeze as Apple executives are unhappy with the progress being made on the development of the vehicle.

Other news out of Apple’s shareholders meeting today includes the company’s commitment to customer privacy and raising its dividends annually. Cook also hinted that now is a “great opportunity” for Apple to acquire smaller technology companies. He said Apple has made 19 acquisitions in the past 15 months.

Related Roundup: Apple Car
Tag: Tim Cook
Discuss this article in our forums

Blur: Online protection for all your data (review)

Think for a moment about how many accounts you have in different websites. Each of these services have, at least, your name, email address and password. It’s even worse when you are

ESET Mobile Security – No stone left unturned (Review)

ESET Mobile Security is a feature rich mobile anti-virus solution that has you covered in just about any mobile security related scenario your imagination can concoct. *For the purpose of

Hola Launcher is a well-rounded Android launcher worth your time (review)

Overview Hola Launcher is a robust and feature-rich Android home-screen app and launcher with a plethora of content, all for free. Hola Launcher offers free themes and icons, wallpapers, add-on applications

Poly Path – Adorably Frustrating Fun. [Review]

Overview –  Guide multi-colored cuties on rails to their respective destinations using simple, tap-based controls in this deceptively challenging little game. Developer: QuikFun Games Price: Free (w/in-app purchases, ads) Highlights: Extremely

Shorty – A clean shortcut app with limited, but effective, functionality [Review]

Overview – This shortcut app lacks the features to set it apart from the countless other shortcut apps out there, but at the same time, it does what it sets

=Twenty: Math is fun in short bursts (review)

Since downloading the game, you know that =Twenty will be completely focused around math. The goal of the game is simple: you have to connect numbers in a board so