Almost 1,000 Powhatan County (Va.) school district employees had their personal information compromised when a district employee fell for a W-2 phishing scam.
How many victims? 905
What type of information? W-2 tax form information to include name, address, Social Security number and wages.
What happened? On March 19 a Powhatan payroll employee responded positively to what ended up being a phishing attack and sent the W-2 forms for the district's staffers to an unknown person. At this time there is no indication the compromised information has been used yet for malicious purposes.
What was the response? The district discovered within an hour that the breach had taken place and immediately began notifying those affected along with local police, the IRS, the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI. In a letter the district has recommended that its employees place a fraud alert on their credit lines and contact one of the major credit bureaus to help mitigate the compromise. The district also has set up question and answer sessions so those affected can be brought up to speed on the situation.
Quote: “We sincerely apologize for this data security breach and the inconvenience that it may cause you and your family,” said Powhatan Superintendent Dr. Eric Jones
Sources: WTVR
