Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Cybercrime

Recruiting Firm Apparently Pays Ransom After Being Targeted by Hackers

Administrative staffing agency Career Group, Inc. this week started sending notification letters to customers who were affected by a data breach that occurred in late June.

Administrative staffing agency Career Group, Inc. this week started sending notification letters to customers who were affected by a data breach that occurred in late June.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, the staffing and recruiting company provides both full-time and temporary placement services, in direct hire and freelance roles at organizations across all sectors.

The data breach, the company says, occurred between June 28 and July 7. The company detected “potential unauthorized access to its network” on July 2 and took the necessary steps to contain it.

The company also informed law enforcement of the incident and started an investigation that revealed unauthorized access to customer data.

“Our investigation determined that the unauthorized party potentially removed certain files and folders from portions of our network between June 28, 2021 and July 7, 2021,” the company says in the notification letter sent to affected individuals.

A redacted copy of the notification letter that was submitted to the Maine Attorney General’s Office shows that Career Group was able to identify the type of compromised information in early August, but does not reveal the exact type of data that was stolen.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

However, the company did share with the Maine Attorney General’s Office the fact that names and other personally identifiable information, such as Social Security Numbers, were impacted. A total of 49,476 individuals were affected by the incident.

Career Group did not share details on the type of cyberattack it fell victim to, but it appears that ransomware might have been used and that the company likely paid a ransom to the attackers.

“We received assurances from the unauthorized party that the data removed from our environment was permanently deleted and not further disseminated,” the company said in the notification letter.

The company also says it took the necessary steps to ensure that it would better protect the data entrusted to it.

Related: Nokia-Owned SAC Wireless Discloses Data Breach

Related: T-Mobile Confirms Data Breach Impacts Millions of Customers

Related: University of San Diego Health Says Personal Information Stolen in Data Breach

Written By

Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek.

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing for the latest cybersecurity threats, trends, and expert insights.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join this live webinar as we break down why email-layer defenses alone can't keep pace with the modern phishing ecosystem, how agentic AI is changing the capacity equation for security teams, and more.

Register

This year's summit will help organizations learn how to utilize tools, controls, and design models needed to properly secure cloud environments. Interact with leading solution providers and other end users facing similar challenges in securing a variety of cloud deployments.

Register

People on the Move

Tracey Mustacchio has joined Everfox as Chief Marketing Officer.

Mark Carter has been appointed Chief Information Security Officer at Socure.

Spektrum Labs has named Mark Cravotta Chief Operating Officer.

More People On The Move

Expert Insights

Four decades of incident response experience suggest that exploits are often the symptom, not the root cause, of today’s cybersecurity failures.

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest cybersecurity news, threats, and expert insights. Unsubscribe at any time.