Thousands of Job Seekers Impacted by Data Breach

BOISE, Idaho – Idaho Department of Labor customers who have job-seeker accounts that may have been viewed are being asked to put a “fraud alert” on their credit reports and notify law enforcement if they discover suspicious activity related to their account.

According to the department, about 170,000 of its 530,000 job-seeker accounts – active and historical – were compromised by a hacking incident on March 12-13 involving America’s Job Link, a Kansas-based, multi-state system that operates the department’s IdahoWorks job search engine.

Idaho accounts created on and after March 14 were not affected.

The labor department “is sending direct notification, via email or regular mail, to all IdahoWorks customers whose accounts may have been compromised. The account information that may have been viewed includes customers’ name, Social Security number and date of birth.”

America’s Job Link provides job search services to 10 states. A total of 4.8 million accounts within the America’s Job Link system are believed to have been compromised. Other state systems affected include Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Oklahoma and Vermont.

The matter is under criminal investigation by law enforcement. An independent forensic firm hired by America’s Job Link Alliance-Technical Support estimated that 170,000 Idaho-based accounts may have been viewed. According to the forensic firm, the code vulnerability that allowed the unauthorized access has since been eliminated.

For additional information, visit this labor department webpage.