This will lead to many, many instances of identity theft.

In case you haven’t heard, the IRS was hacked. The number of taxpayers affected keeps changing, but right now it’s at about 400,000. It may go up further as more information comes out.

Here’s a decent write-up of what happened.

And here’s what you can take away:

1. As I’ve written before, identity theft is going to be a fact of life for most people. Looking back at the data breaches that have happened over the past year (Target, Anthem, and the IRS off the top of my head), no one can seriously believe that his personal information is safe.
2. While you can’t keep your info out of identity thieves’ hands, you can and should prepare by monitoring your credit regularly and having an action plan for if and when your identity is stolen.
3. Since this latest hack may have exposed tax returns, expect identity thieves to choose juicier targets, i. e. wealthier people. But no one is exempt from worry.