[privacy] Hackers Break into U.S. Agriculture Dept. Computers

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Via Yahoo! News (AP).

[snip]

A hacker broke into the Agriculture Department's computer system and
may have obtained names, Social Security numbers and photos of 26,000
Washington-area employees and contractors, the department said Wednesday.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said the department will provide
free credit monitoring for one year to anyone who might have been affected.

The break-in happened during the first weekend in June, the department
said. Technology staff learned of the breach on June 5 and told Johanns
the following day but believed personal information was protected by
security software, the department said.

However, on further analysis, staff concluded that data on current or
former employees might have been accessed and informed Johanns on
Wednesday, according to the department.

The department said it notified law enforcement agencies. Its inspector
general is investigating the break-in.

[snip]

More here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060622/ap_on_hi_te/agriculture_hacker

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

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