The Washington Post has notified users of its job board that a recent a cyber attack has resulted in a data breach that compromised up to 1.27 million job seeker accounts.
The Washington Post said that the attack occurred in two brief episodes, once on June 27 and once on June 28, resulting in the attacker(s) getting hold of roughly 1.27 million user IDs and e-mail addresses. Passwords or other personal information were not compromised, the publisher said.
“We quickly identified the attack and took action to shut it down,” the Washington Post said. “We also have implemented additional measures to prevent against a similar attack in the future, and we are pursuing the matter with law enforcement. In addition, we are conducting a thorough audit of the security of the Jobs site.”
According to Josh Shaul, CTO of Application Security, Inc. this database breach is a big deal for those affected. “Their information is stored in that database because they are looking for work. They’re so susceptible to spear phishing – it’s impossible to resist looking into the legit looking emails that come in offering you the opportunity to work,” Shaul said. “It could also be a problem for the people who have jobs and are out looking for better ones. Nobody wants their boss getting ahold of that info – the list could be used to blackmail people as well.”
Just over a week ago, Gannett Government Media, publisher of several high profile publications catering to the military and government sectors, was the victim of a recent a cyber attack, resulting in files containing information including first and last name, userID, password, email address, and customer numbers for its subscribers.