Personal Information of 123,000 US Government Employees Stolen
Personal information of over 123,000 federal employees have been exposed after a cyber attack in last July. The cyberattack occurred against a Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) contractor, Serco Inc. The FBI notified both Serco and the TSP last month about the attack. According to the Guardian has called Serco "probably the biggest company you have never heard of." It's on the FTSE 100 (Big!), has 100,000 employees and operates everything from railways in the UK and Australia to driver licensing in Ontario, Canada to retirement accounts for US government employees, members of the armed forces and US Postal Service workers. Perhaps taking advantage of the holiday weekend in the United States, Serco announced this morning that hackers had compromised systems at its Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) operation.
After extensive forensic investigation it was determined that 43,000 members' names, addresses and Social Security Numbers had been accessed by the intruders, and the Social Security Numbers of another 80,000 may have been involved.
"Serco regrets this incident and the inconvenience it may cause to some Thrift Savings Plan participants and payees whose personal data was involved," said Serco Chairman and CEO Ed Casey in the statement. "We have fortified our information security measures and cyber defenses."