South Carolina’s top officer not releasing details on 2012 hack that stole millions of tax returns

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Twelve years after a hacker stole personal data from more than 3.6 million people in South Carolina by obtaining Social Security numbers and credit card information from tax returns, the state’s top police officer said Wednesday he thought he knew who did it but wasn’t ready to name anyone.

State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel was careful not to release many details during his confirmation hearing for another six-year term. He said what authorities didn’t find shows that the state had the right response after the U.S. Secret Service identified the hack and data breach in October 2012.

“I think the fact that we didn’t come up with a whole lot of people’s information that got breached is a testament to the work that people have done on this case,” Keel said.

A contractor with the state Department of Revenue clicked on a malicious link in an email in the summer of 2012, allowing a hacker to access 6.4 million state income tax returns. They collected the Social Security numbers of 3.6 million people and almost 400,000 credit and debit card numbers.

The state paid $12 million for identity theft protection and credit monitoring for its residents after the breach, At the time, it was one of the largest breaches in U.S. history but has since been surpassed greatly by hacks to Equifax, Yahoo, Home Depot, Target and PlayStation.

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