Breach, Data Security

Hackers exploit vulnerability to breach Pennsylvania payroll company

An undisclosed number of individuals may have had personal information – including Social Security numbers and payment information – compromised after hackers took advantage of a vulnerability in systems belonging to Paytime Inc., a Pennsylvania payroll company.

How many victims? Undisclosed, but Paytime issued 85,000 W2s in 2012, according to reports

What type of personal information? Names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, hire dates, Social Security numbers, direct deposit bank account information, wage information, and other payroll related information, according to reports.

What happened? Hackers took advantage of a vulnerability in Paytime's Client Service Center, which enabled the attackers to access the customer data.

What was the response? Paytime hired a third-party IT forensics team to aid in an investigation, and is additionally working with law enforcement. Paytime ensured that all its systems are secure and implemented new monitoring and intrusion detection systems. Impacted individuals are being notified and offered a free year of credit monitoring, call center support and identity restoration services.

Details: Paytime learned of the breach on April 30. The intruders, believed to be from outside the U.S., first gained access to the Client Service Center on April 7. Reports have come out that about 500 Wayne County staffers and roughly 1,000 Central Pennsylvania College employees may have been impacted by the breach.

Quote: “Our investigation has also determined that the intruders were skilled hackers working from foreign IP addresses,” according to a statement emailed to SCMagazine.com on Friday by Chris Haverstick, vice president of sales and marketing with Paytime.

Source: A statement emailed to SCMagazine.com on Friday.

UPDATE: As many as 216,274 individuals may have been impacted in the breach, according to a Paytime breach notification to North Carolina.

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