Report: Breach Of USPS’ Networks Compromises Personal Data Of 2.9M Customers, 750K Employees & Retirees

Let’s all pick our jaws up off the floor because, and I know you won’t believe this, yet another security breach has compromised the personal information of millions of people. The latest in what has become an unfortunate trail of hack attacks has hit the U.S. Postal Service computer system, officials say.

Attackers looted information like names, home addresses, phone numbers and emails from 2.9 million customers, CNN reports, citing an official briefed on the matter.

A further 750,000 employees and retirees were affected, with attackers stealing birthdates, addresses and internal employment codes used in the USPS’ payroll system, the official said.

The USPS confirmed the breach in a statement, saying only:

“The Postal Service has recently learned of a cyber-security intrusion into some of our information systems. We began investigating this incident as soon as we learned of it, and we are cooperating with the investigation, which is ongoing. The investigation is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and joined by other federal and postal investigatory agencies. The intrusion is limited in scope and all operations of the Postal Service are functioning normally.”

The USPS will notify employees and retirees and offer credit monitoring. It’s unclear what steps the agency will take to remedy the situation for customers affected by the breach.

The FBI also issued a statement saying that it’s looking into the breach:

“The FBI is working with the United States Postal Service to determine the nature and scope of this incident. Impacted individuals should take steps to monitor and safeguard their personally identifiable information, and report any suspected instances of identity theft to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.”

*Thanks for the tip, Kevin and Ed!

Massive Postal Service breach hits employees and customers [CNN]

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