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BOISE — The Idaho Department of Labor announced a large-scale computer hack affecting some 170,000 of the state’s 530,000 job-seeker accounts on Wednesday.
The data breach originated with America’s Job Link, a Kansas-based, multi-state system that operates the department’s IdahoWorks job search engine. IdahoWorks is a statewide job search service that lets users search and apply for jobs in Idaho. America’s Job Link powers IdahoWorks and similar job seeking websites in ten states, according to a department news release.
A total of 4.8 million accounts within the America’s Job Link system are believed to have been compromised on March 12 and 13.
The Idaho accounts — both active and historical — contained job seeker’s names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth. The department is sending notifications, via email or regular mail, to all IdahoWorks customers whose accounts may have been compromised.
The incident is under criminal investigation by law enforcement.
Additionally, an independent forensic firm hired by America’s Job Link Alliance-Technical Support is investigating. According to the forensic firm, the code vulnerability that allowed the unauthorized access has since been eliminated.
Idaho accounts created on and after March 14, were not affected, according to the news release.
The department is asking customers whose accounts may have been compromised to place a “fraud alert” on their credit reports and to notify law enforcement officials if they discover any suspicious activity.
America’s Job Link Alliance has also set up a call center with a toll-free number to answer questions from impacted customers. The number, as well as updated information on the incident, will be available and posted online starting Friday at labor.idaho.gov/security.
