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A Monster hack job

Amy Scott Aug 24, 2007

TEXT OF STORY

Scott Jagow: When you submit your resume to Monster.com, you’re probably not wondering whether someone in Ukraine is stealing your personal information. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s been happening. The jobs website has revealed a major security failure. As far as we know, no one’s had their identity stolen, but still, it’s pretty unsettling. More now from Amy Scott.


Amy Scott: Monster says 1.3 million users were affected by the security breach.

Hackers allegedly posed as employers to access the job site’s database of about 70 million resumes. They then used that information to send e-mail messages asking for more valuable information like bank account numbers.

Monster says it’s shut down a rogue server in Ukraine that hackers used to access customer information.

Things haven’t been pretty for Monster lately. Last month the company reported disappointing earnings, and said it would lay off 15 percent of its workforce.

Monster learned of the security problem a week ago, but didn’t warn users until Wednesday. A spokesman said the company wanted to investigate the breach before going public.

In New York, I’m Amy Scott for Marketplace.

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