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Cybersecurity news: This was just what the 29 million customers of tax preparation software TurboTax feared most – a fraud alert.
On Feb. 6 TurboTax, a unit of Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), was forced to suspend its processing of state tax returns for 24 hours. In the preceding days Intuit and 19 states had noticed a spike in fraudulent state tax returns.
Now the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is looking onto the matter. But customers of TurboTax, or users of any electronic tax filing service, now have something else to worry about.
And it means taxpayers need to get a lot more proactive about cybersecurity.
Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald says that people can't rely on the government or the software companies to protect their online tax data. To be truly safe Fitz-Gerald suggested people could go back to filing their taxes the old-fashioned way – on paper forms.
But in the world of electronic data that we live in, people do have some cybersecurity options.
"You can also look at something like LifeLock, for example, which gives you a modicum of protection if somebody's trying to abuse your credit. Because really, it's all about the cybertheft," Fitz-Gerald said in a Feb. 13 appearance on the FOX Business program "Cavuto."
In addition to this cybersecurity news, Fitz-Gerald also discussed the advancing technology of robots and how investors can profit from the trend. Watch the video below to hear everything Fitz-Gerald has to say.
Cybersecurity News Video: How to Protect Your Tax Data
An Investing Tip Worth Millions: Proper risk management is the only thing standing in between your portfolio and catastrophic loss. It's not the most exciting part of investing, but it is the most important. And there's one powerful tool that stands above all others. In one case, it made the difference between bankruptcy and $13 million…
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