FTC approves settlement with tax preparation company after data breach

The Federal Trade Committee has approved a final settlement with online tax preparation service TaxSlayer, which settles allegations that the company violated federal rules on financial privacy and security.

FTC filed a complaint against the company in September that hackers were able to gain access to around 9,000 TaxSlayer accounts between October and December 2015. This enabled the hackers to file fraudulent tax returns and thus to obtain tax refunds, according to the FTC.

Under the terms of the agreement,...