Breach Brief – America’s JobLink Alliance

Published On March 29, 2017 | By Tom Huskerson | Breach Briefs

America’s JobLink Alliance (AJLA)  reported  a data breach exposed the sensitive information of job-seekers in at least 10 states. Hackers were able to gain unauthorized access to the names, Social Security numbers, and birth dates of millions of job seekers in their database. According to AJLA the breach occurred between Feb. 23 and March 14, 2017. The breach affects job seekers in the following 10 states Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Oklahoma and Vermont.  According to the Idaho Department of Labor, as many as 4.8 million accounts may have been compromised nationwide.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provides the Kansas based AJLA to the states but the service is mangaged by a third party. AJLA is used to coordinate federal unemployment and workforce development programs across the country.

AJLA reported that on February 20 a hacker created a new account, then atacked a previously unknown a vulnerability to gain access to job seekers’ information.  AJLA technical support said in a statement that it first noticed unusual activity on March 12th, and confirmed the breach on March 21st.

The organization is working with law enforcement and contracted a forensic firm to identify what accounts were affected. “The firm has verified that the method of the hacker’s attack has been remediated and is no longer a threat to the AJLA-TS system,” AJLA stated.

The DOL is sending direct notification, via email or regular mail, to all customers whose accounts may have been compromised. The AJLA has also set up a toll-free phone number to call for information; 844-469-3939.

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About The Author

Tom Huskerson Bio Born in Richmond Virginia Tom Huskerson is a military veteran who settled in California after his discharge. Tom attended Santa Barbara City College where he began his writing career as a campus reporter. He worked as an intern news reporter for the Santa Barbara News-Press writing feature stories before moving on to San Francisco. At San Francisco State University Tom studied broadcast communications and began to focus on the Internet. He completed his graduate thesis on Internet advertising. Tom was the first student to ever focus on the Internet as a graduate student at San Francisco State University. After graduation he went to work for Zona Research in California’s Silicone Valley. As a research associate Tom supported senior analyst writing on the latest developments in the Internet industry. During the dot com boom Tom worked for several web businesses as a market researcher and analyst. As a writer and researcher Tom has authored various technical works including a training program for Charles Schwab security. Other projects included professional presentations on workplace violence and hiring security contractors. Tom has also written both fiction and non-fiction works and blogging for a travel website. He has published two books of short stories and completed two novels. Tom is the owner of Scribe of Life Literature and EbonyCandle.com. Tom is not the chief editor for the OnTechStreet. com. A news and information blog that focuses on tech news for African-Americans. The blog is the result of his desire to inform the African American community of the dangers and benefits of the cyber age. In his blog Tom reports on information security, new and analysis, scams and hoaxes, legal happenings and various topics that arise from the age of information. Tom believes that technology is a necessary tool for black people and they should know what is happening. Tom writes believing that techno speak is for the professional and that valuable information can be communicated using plain language. As a result he has embraced the motto, Less Tech, More Knowledge.

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