The Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office has learned a painful lesson following a data breach that leaked the information for over 2,500 employees. This breach is the result of a phishing scam, as an email supposedly from human resources tricked employees into handing over vital information.
Got Phished
The data breach began when a scammer sent out emails, posing as the assistant superintendent of human resources. Falling for the trick, one or more employees sent over the requested files, handing over information on all employees who were paid through the office in 2015.
This information, according to Bakersfield Now, includes names, gross pay, and most worryingly, Social Security numbers.
Protecting Against Identity Theft
In response, the department has partnered with Kroll Inc., a third-party vendor, to provide an identity theft protection plan. Said plan will be provided for a full year at no cost to the impacted employees, to protect them from any potential identity theft that could be committed through the stolen Social Security numbers.
In addition, the office has notified the Bakersfield Police Department, which has begun investigating the data breach. With any luck, they can trace it back to the cyber criminal, and keep the affected employees’ information safe from identity theft.
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Robert Pleasant
Robert Pleasant is a writer and unabashed nerd, contributing news coverage and editorial articles to SiliconANGLE. His experience includes writing articles for websites such as UCStrategies, G33k-HQ, and Green Tea Graffiti, covering a range of subjects in technology, gaming, and entertainment. Robert, known to his friends as Robbie, earned his degree in Creative Writing from University of California, Santa Cruz, before getting into the tech news field, and in addition to the writing he does for SiliconANGLE, enjoys creating original comedic stories in his downtime.
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