Monsanto Data Security Breached at Precision Planting

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-29/monsanto-data-security-breached-at-precision-planting.html

By Jack Kaskey
bloomberg.com
May 29, 2014

Monsanto Co. (MON)’s data security was breached at its Precision Planting 
unit, exposing employees and customers to potential misuse of credit card 
information and tax identification numbers.

Fewer than 1,300 farmer customers were affected by the breach, Christy 
Toedebusch, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis-based company, said in an 
e-mail yesterday. Monsanto discovered on March 27 that an outside party 
had accessed Precision Planting servers, the company said in a May 14 
letter to the Office of the Attorney General in Maryland, where 14 state 
residents may have been affected.

The breach comes as Monsanto and competitors such as DuPont Co. (DD) begin 
to offer data services to help farmers boost yields with advice on issues 
such as seed spacing and chemical applications. The aggregation of 
farmers’ data by multinational agricultural companies is stirring concern 
about privacy and business risks.

Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, doesn’t believe the breach was 
an attempt to steal customer information, Toedebusch said. While the 
company isn’t aware of any misuse of the information, it notified affected 
customers and is offering them complimentary credit monitoring services 
for a year, she said.

[...]

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