Specialty networking solutions provider Belden on Tuesday disclosed a data breach resulting in the theft of employee and business information.
The company said the incident involved “unauthorized access and copying of some current and former employee data, as well as limited company information regarding some business partners.”
Belden said its employees detected unusual activity on some servers, which third-party forensic experts determined was the result of a “sophisticated attack.” The attackers apparently accessed a “limited number” of Belden’s file servers, but the firm said the breach did not have any impact on production in manufacturing plants, quality control or shipping.
The company’s investigation into the incident is ongoing, but it believes the attackers have been locked out of its network. Impacted employees are being notified and offered free monitoring and support services, and Belden says it’s also reaching out to affected business partners.
“Safety is always paramount at Belden and we take threats to the privacy of personal and company information very seriously,” stated Roel Vestjens, president and CEO of Belden. “We regret any complications or inconvenience this incident may have caused and are offering assistance to those individuals who may have been impacted.”
SecurityWeek has reached out to Belden for additional information and will update this article if the company responds.
UPDATE. Belden has provided the following statement, sharing information on the type of data that has been compromised (emphasis ours):
Belden was the target of a sophisticated attack by a party outside the company that accessed servers that contained personal information of some current and former Belden employees, as well as limited company information regarding some of our business partners.
Our IT professionals were able to detect the unusual activity and believe we have stopped further unauthorized access of personal data on our servers.
Personal information accessed and stolen may have contained such information as names, birthdates, government-issued identification numbers (for example, social security / national insurance), bank account information of North American employees on Belden payroll, home addresses, email addresses and other general employment-related information. Limited company information accessed and stolen related to some of our business partners include bank account data and, for U.S. partners, their taxpayer ID numbers.
We are notifying all affected employees and business partners and are taking steps to provide individuals with free monitoring and support services, where available. We have also notified appropriate regulatory and law enforcement authorities who are assisting with the investigation. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this situation may cause all impacted individuals.
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