A Guardian-owned jobs website, which has two million active monthly users, has been fallen victim to “a sophisticated and deliberate hack” that has reportedly compromised sensitive information of its several users, according to an email sent to around 5 million of its impacted users over the weekend.
The email stated that the hacking attack was related to the information submitted by job-seekers on the website, and that the offenders might have obtained access to the personal details given in the job applications.
However, the situation has been brought back to normalcy in quick time after the website realised it was under some hacking attack, and its servers are now secured, up and running.
“As soon as we were alerted to the fact that there was a problem, we dealt with it, in line with the information commissioner's guidance on data protection. We felt it was important to be transparent and alert our users as soon as possible”, said a Guardian spokesperson.
Since the users’ accounts weren’t compromised, users needn’t change their login credentials at all, the Guardian told the affected users.
The website further (opens in new tab) stated that the compromised information could involve the user’s name, email address, as well as covering letter and CV, and that it had no reason to believe that any financial data or bank details were stolen.
Our Comments
Another day, another hacker attack. As of this morning, the site bears no notice of the attack so as not to panic its users possibly. Still, it will provide the website, which currently has around 10,000 jobs on offer, with some publicity (even it is not a positive one).
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