Servers belonging to the United States Postal Service (USPS) have been hacked, it has been revealed. The latest major organization to suffer an
intrusion, following a string of retailers, data belonging to more than 800,000 USPS employees have been compromised, including the postmaster general's, in a breach which was discovered in mid-September.
A press release from the USPS
notes the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is examining the breach, which includes employee names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses, employment start and end dates, emergency contact information, and other employee information. Call center data for customers who contacted the USPS by phone or e-mail between January 1st and August 16th may also be compromised, though this data is limited to whatever customers supplied to the USPS, including names, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and other data. The USPS currently does not believe these affected customers need to take any action as a result of the intrusion.
Payment details stored by the Postal Service transactional revenue systems and the website are believed to be safe, as there is "no evidence" this was compromised. This covers online and retail transactions by credit and debit card, and other retail services including Click-N-Ship, PostalOne!, change of address notifications, and others.
The USPS has started to tell its affected employees about the incident, offering an apology and one year of free credit monitoring services. Personalized assistance is also being offered via the USPS Human Resources Shared Services Center.
Unusually, there is already one report claiming the intrusion is a governmental attack, not one performed by online criminals. The
Washington Post was advised by analysts that the USPS would be a "logical espionage target for
China," suggesting it could be linked to other similar intrusions at the Office of Personnel Management and government security clearance contractor USIS. Though no-one has officially blamed any one government, group, or person for the USPS attack, an official claimed the attack was carried out by a "sophisticated" entity without an interest in identity theft or credit card fraud.
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