Hack risk turns Germans off online tax returns

NEWS The system, called Elster, had only been up and running for six weeks when German magazine Finanztest accused the service of not sufficiently protecting data from attack. The spokesman for the tax authority said access to the internal servers of the local tax offices was "extremely unlikely" but the system was removed as a precaution in light of such negative publicity. The authority did admit, however, that that there were weak points in the downloading of the program and the automatic updating via the internet, but said: "This method of data transfer is always a risky business." The six-week old system will now be "modernised" and re-released.