In a press conference Tuesday, Governor Nikki Haley announced Jim Etter, the Department of Revenue director, has given his letter of resignation in wake of the Department of Revenue hacking.
Haley stated that Etter will be with the department until December 31.
"We both agreed we need a new set of eyes on the department of revenue," Haley said.
Haley released the information about Etter's resignation after releasing a report on the cyber-attack on South Carolina's tax collection agency. It shows officials could have done more to protect the personal information of nearly 4 million individual filers and 700,000 businesses.
She says the report from computer security firm Mandiant found Revenue should have required dual verification for someone trying to access tax returns and should have encrypted Social Security numbers.
The breach involved those who filed electronically, dating to 1998 but mostly since 2002. Haley says the hacker stole 3.3 million unencrypted bank account numbers, as well as 5,000 expired credit card numbers.
Mandiant identified precisely whose information was stolen. Those taxpayers will be notified by email or letter, Haley said.
She also released the following numbers on the number of people impacted:
Filers impacted: 3.9 million
Dependents: 1.9 million
Businesses: 699,900
Bank Accounts: 3.3 million, some of which are closed
Credit Cards: 5,000, all of which have expired
SLED Chief Keel says the criminal investigation into the hacker or hackers is ongoing. He added secret service has now taken the lead of the investigation.
The AP contributed to this report
