EPA cyber breach exposes 8,000 accounts

Technology

EPA cyber breach exposes 8,000 accounts

The Social Security numbers and bank routing numbers of about 8,000 accounts were exposed in a cyber breach of an Environmental Protection Agency database.

Jolie Lee

August 2, 2012 2:14 pm

< a min read

The Social Security numbers and bank routing numbers of about 8,000 accounts were exposed in a cyber breach of an Environmental Protection Agency database.

The breach occurred in March and affected 5,100 current employees and 2,700 “other individuals,” according to an EPA statement. In total, EPA has about 18,000 employees.

EPA is offering free credit monitoring for one year and set up a hotline for the affected individuals to call.

EPA said it is unlikely the personal financial information was used, according to the statement.

“Vigilantly keeping data secure from increasingly sophisticated cyber threats is a top priority at EPA and throughout the public and private sectors. The agency has already added new safeguards in response to this incident,” according to the EPA statement.

Washington Business Journal first reported the breach.