Tens of thousands of current and former employees of a leading US cybersecurity and nuclear research laboratory were impacted by a major data breach discovered in November, it has been revealed.
The Idaho National Laboratory said in an updated notice published this week that it first became aware of the incident on November 20.
The breach impacted current and former employees - including interns, graduate fellows and post-doctorate researchers - as well as retirees and dependents and spouses.
Only INL employees who began after June 1 2023 are not affected, it said.
The lab revealed that some individuals employed by the Idaho Cleanup Project between 2005 until mid-2006 may also have had their personal data compromised.
The Office of the Maine Attorney General confirmed that 45,047 individuals were affected by the breach.
A breach notification letter published by the OAG confirmed that the incident took place on November 19, and that the hackers got their hands on a treasure trove of information.
INL is offering free credit monitoring to those affected and said they should also put a freeze on their credit report to minimize the chances of fraudsters opening new lines of credit in their name.
The SiegedSec hacktivist group has claimed responsibility for the attack, having published the data online.
INL is one of 17 US Department of Energy national labs, with a long history of producing cybersecurity, nuclear and clean energy research.
This Cyber News was published on www.infosecurity-magazine.com. Publication date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 09:30:14 +0000