If you use Google Chrome or Microsoft's Edge, be prepared to switch your browser if you want to turn in the IRS this year. Browsers of the two giants have stopped working with Java technology, which is mandatory for all taxpayers who submit the 2015 income tax return via the internet.

The Tax and Customs Authority (TA) has issued a notice on the Finance Portal to account for the need to use other browsers compatible with the Oracle programming language. In Portugal, Google's browser is used by 46.5% of Internet users, according to Marktest's Netscope.

For two years, Java technology has been known to be potentially vulnerable, with repeated warnings from IT security companies and even the US Department of Homeland Security. This does not prevent Finance from continuing to use this technology.

All technologies have vulnerabilities. But there are some that are considered more insecure than others. Java is an example of how technology can be unreliable: since 2012, US authorities have issued alerts that report vulnerabilities in Oracle's technology platform. In January 2013, the US Department of Homeland Security even advised state agencies to deactivate Java technology. The position taken by the American authorities did not produce great results here on the Atlantic side. Already in late 2015, the Federal Trade Commission imposed on Oracle the obligation to issue alerts to Internet users about the fact that the use of Java is potentially vulnerable.

The IRS advises that "electronic delivery of IRS statements is not possible if you are using the latest versions of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge."

In 2013, AT referred to silence when asked by Expresso about the use of Java on the IRS online - and from that date until today, the Finance Portal continued to work exclusively for those who use Java ... although Google has announced Which was going to start abandoning the use of Java in Chrome at the time of the debut of version 42 in April 2015.

NOTICE ONLINE
In the online statement available, AT warns that "electronic delivery of IRS statements is not possible if you are using the latest versions of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge," adding that "to minimize the impact on taxpayers, the process IRS statement delivery has been changed to detect that the taxpayer is using a browser that does not support Java technology and in that case propose alternative solutions that go through the installation of other free browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari (for Mac OS X) or using the offline application to fill out the IRS statement. " Note that in the offline option, the user must download a Java-compatible application to fill out the IRS statement.

"Java technology is known to allow remote code execution on users' computers. Which means that when I access a website, my browser may automatically allow someone to run on my machine codes that may be of unknown origin. It is a bad principle because we are relying on the site we visit and we are believing that we are not being targeted by man-in-the-middle attacks, in which one can intrude on the link we establish with a site, "explains Rui Miguel Silva, coordinator of the Laboratory of Computer Security and Cibercrime UbiNET, which operates in the facilities of the Polytechnic of Beja.

Java technology was first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995 - at a time when the Internet was still far from the technological maturity of today. This programming language did not take long to gain market share, much due to the interactivity allowed. With one or two clicks - or none at all - the user would find a way to work in an environment that made it easy to share documents, data, or multimedia with a website or server that could be thousands of miles away.

JAVA EVERYDAY CAUSE
With security alerts, increased internet speed, and the emergence of standards such as HTML5.0, which already allows data sharing without the installation of code on Internet users' computers, Java has begun to lose support and compatible solutions In the technology industry. And the most visible of "dropouts" is precisely Chrome (and with less market share, the Microsoft Edge), for compatibility with the extensions known as the Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI), because they were initially used in Long extinct Netscape browser.

Francisco Rente, a specialist in electronic security audits and leader of Dognaedis, reminds that the state should assume a different position of a company when it makes its technological bets:By a service to a use of a certain technology, the "state is defining an attack surface. A hacker can focus his resources on a technology, rather than disperse them by different technologies. "

There are also those who relativize the risks of using Java. José Pina Miranda, a pioneer of the Internet in Portugal and a specialist in electronic security, recalls that TA can minimize potential risks by reminding taxpayers of the need to make sure they deliver the statements on the legitimate website of the Finance Portal. "Given the US authorities' releases, it would make sense for AT to make other technologies available (alternatives to Java), but I understand that it is not something that can be done from one day to the next."

Finance source told the Daily Express that, "probably the continued use of Java technology has budgetary reasons, lack of money."

DIGITAL REVOLUTION IN TAXES
The digital revolution has long come to finance, and especially since 2013 the changes are evident and visible. The electronic delivery of the IRS is part of the habits of the Portuguese who, every year, send more than 5 million declarations to the Tax and Customs Authority (TA) via the internet.

The e-invoice project saw the light of day in 2013, rooted in the consumer's habit of asking for an invoice, whether for the tax benefit associated with restaurant expenses or car repair shops, or for the chance of winning Audi (these raffles started in 2014 and the last one will be tomorrow, since from April 7 the Luck Invoice prize will be constituted by Savings Certificates More).

All this was technology-based, some of which developed by Oracle, whose contracts were subject to public procurement rules.

This year, for the first time, the delivery of the IRS has more features, since the amounts of deductible expenses are pre-inscribed by the Finance in the declaration of each taxpayer. This has forced taxpayers to carry out various steps, such as validating invoices on your page or reporting expenses that were not on the site. The changes also led to changes in the timing of invoice validation, as well as IRS delivery, which in the case of third-party workers begins on April 1 and for self-employed workers (and for those who have other incomes beyond Of work, such as income).

These changes arose due to the various technical problems that occurred during the validation period of the invoices.
In fact, technical problems have been a constant in the Finance Portal. There were problems at the end of the deadlines for the electronic delivery of the IRS and IRC each year, so that by 2015 the IRS delivery system became autonomous to be more responsive.

However, this year it has already been verified that the e-invoice registers difficulties in data processing when there are peaks in access, as was observed in February of this year with the validation of invoices.
The Daily Express contacted Finance to find out, among other things, if they are considering migrating to alternative technology to Java, but until the end of this edition the Ministry of Finance did not comment.

source: http://expresso.sapo.pt/economia/2016-03-30-Metade-dos-internautas-tem-de-mudar-de-browser-para-entregar-o-IRS-1

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