America’s Joblink Alliance, which operates the Joblink database, has notified several states that the job seeker service had been compromised by malicious software. The personal information of job seekers in ten states including Vermont, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine and Oklahoma may be compromised. The AP reports that officials have advised system users to review bank, credit and debit accounts.
Brian Laing, VP of Business Development and Products, Lastline, says: "Every major data breach emphasizes the critical importance of maintaining strong authentication measures in both personal and professional web applications.
"With so many accounts potentially open for hacker use to distribute advanced malware, a data breach of this potential scale will no doubt have a far reaching impact on malware distribution worldwide. We recommend changing passwords immediately, and possibly adding a second factor authentication. The blurring of personal and professional use of enterprise assets such as laptops underscores the criticality of protecting organizations from the network core to the outer edges against advanced persistent threats. Data breaches can provide a very large distribution hub for malware, through legitimate accounts, on a huge scale for years to come."