🧐 ProPicks AI October update is out now! See which stocks made the listPick Stocks with AI

Data of 237,000 US government employees breached

Published 05/12/2023, 07:27 PM
Updated 05/12/2023, 09:00 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man types on a computer keyboard in this illustration picture taken February 28, 2013.  REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo/File Photo

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The personal information of 237,000 current and former federal government employees has been exposed in a data breach at the U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT), sources briefed on the matter said on Friday.

The breach hit systems for processing TRANServe transit benefits that reimburse government employees for some commuting costs. It was not clear if any of the personal information had been used for criminal purposes.

USDOT notified Congress Friday in an email seen by Reuters that its initial investigation of the data breach has "isolated the breach to certain systems at the department used for administrative functions, such as employee transit benefits processing."

USDOT said in a statement to Reuters the breach did not affect any transportation safety systems. It did not say who might be responsible for the hack.

The department is investigating the breach and has frozen access to the transit benefit system until it has been secured and restored, it said.

The maximum benefit allowance is $280 per month for federal employee mass transit commuting costs. The breach impacted 114,000 current employees and 123,000 former employees.

Federal employees and agencies have been target of hackers in the past.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man types on a computer keyboard in this illustration picture taken February 28, 2013.  REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo/File Photo

Two breaches at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in 2014 and 2015 compromised sensitive data belonging to more than 22 million people, including 4.2 million current and federal employees along with fingerprint data of 5.6 million of those individuals.

Suspected Russian hackers who used SolarWinds and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) software to burrow into U.S. federal agencies breached unclassified Justice Department networks and read emails at the Treasury, Commerce and Homeland Security departments. Nine federal agencies were breached, Reuters reported in 2021.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.