CNY Works Data Breach: Personal Details of 56,000 Customers Exposed

Social Security numbers, names, and other personal details of around 56,000 individuals were exposed as CNY Works faced a data breach. The data breach potentially affected people who sought employment via the company’s services.

CNY Works is a New York-based non-profit corporation working to help businesses and job-seeking individuals with the objective of providing skilled workers to businesses and employment for those seeking a job within Central New York – providing a single entry point for Workforce Information.

The agency started sending letters to all its affected customers, warning them about the security breach – the officials told that files compromised during the attack (likely to be a ransomware attack) on their servers consisted of their names and Security numbers. However, the agency did not spot signs of any data being accessed, viewed, or taken down by the threat actors.

Social Security number is a nine-digit number used to record a person’s earnings and verify his identity whenever he starts a new job; having your social security number compromised can lead to identity theft in various ways, cybercriminals can sell people’s identities on the dark web marketplaces to highest bidders. In a way, it’s like getting your bank account info. stolen, only that you can always get a new bank account number, while new Social Security numbers are rarely issued by the concerned administration.

While addressing the security issue, Lenore Sealy, executive director for CNY Works, said in an email to media outlets, “We are sending notification letters to approximately 56,000 individuals.”

“However, we are notifying individuals out of an abundance of caution. CNY Works has no evidence that any of the personal information for these individuals has been misused, or even that any of the personal information in its possession was accessed or stolen as a result of this incident.” The email further read.