US: Hack of DOT Exposes Personal info of 237,000 People

By Staff, Agencies

Unidentified hackers have reportedly broken into computer systems of the US Department of Transportation [DOT] and accessed personal data of at least 237,000 former and current employees of the agency.

In a statement issued on Friday, the DOT did identify the possible source of the cyber-attack against yet another US government agency, but insisted that the breach did not affect any transportation safety systems, local media outlets reported.

Informing the US Congress via an email about the hacking effort and the data breach, the DOT further stated that its initial investigation into the cyber-attack isolated the breach to specific systems in the department used for administrative functions such as processing employee transportation benefits.

According to the report, the hacking effort struck TRANServe's transportation benefits processing systems, which reimburse some government employees for commuting expenses. It is not yet clear whether any of the personal information was used for criminal purposes.

The department further stated it was probing the breach and had blocked access to the transport benefits system until it was secured and restored. The breach, it added, affected 114,000 current employees and 123,000 former employees.

US federal agencies and their employees have increasingly been targeted by local and international hackers in the past months.

China has denounced US hacking accusations as “groundless and irresponsible” after Washington blamed Beijing for stealing data of millions of Americans.