An undisclosed number of individuals who applied online for a position with San Francisco-based Bank of the West may have had personal information – including Social Security numbers – compromised after an unauthorized party gained access to a job application system that contained the data.
How many victims? Undisclosed. Bank of the West employs more than 9,000 individuals, according to the website.
What type of personal information? Names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, and driver's license numbers, as well as usernames and passwords created to access the website.
What happened? An unauthorized party gained access to a retired internet application that provided job listings and accepted applications for positions at Bank of the West.
What was the response? Upon discovery, the impacted servers were immediately shutdown and secured, and additional security measures were established. An investigation with law enforcement is ongoing. All impacted individuals are being notified and offered a free year of identity theft monitoring services.
Details: Bank of the West learned of the incident on Dec. 19, 2013 and is notifying anyone who applied for a job with the company before that date.
Quote: “We don't have conclusive evidence that personal information was taken, but we sent those letters as a precaution,” Debra Jack, a Bank of the West spokeswoman, said.
Source: oag.ca.gov, “Bank of the West notice letters,” Feb. 5, 2014; denverpost.com, The Denver Post, “Bank of the West has data breach in online job-application system,” Feb. 11, 2014.
