Vermont Business Magazine Officials from the Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) continue to work closely with America’s Joblink Alliance (AJLA) – a provider of the nationwide web-based database Joblink – to identify individuals in Vermont who may have been breached as a result of a cyber-attack on the vendor’s Joblink system, announced by VDOL on Tuesday. The FBI is also investigating. It is now known that this breach may have compromised as many as 182,000 accounts in Vermont – and 4.8 million accounts collectively across 10 states – exposing personal information, which potentially includes name, address, date of birth and social security number. The quantity and identity of individual Vermonters who may have been impacted is still being determined.
VDOL was notified on March 15 that data from multiple states may have been breached and that the system had subsequently been secured to prevent future breaches. At that point, all 10 states were awaiting the results of a forensic analysis by a firm hired by AJLA, with the support of the FBI. This analysis was needed to confirm whether the breach had exposed any personal information.
The Department has been in regular contact with AJLA about the breach since notified, and has been persistent in demanding AJLA work as quickly as possible to notify – and protect – all impacted Vermonters. The State of Vermont asked the vendor to establish a toll-free hotline that anyone who may have been affected can call for more information, and that the call center provide live operators capable of answering direct questions. AJLA has complied, and Vermonters that have used Joblink and want more information can now call 844-469-3939. It will operate Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for 15 business days.
The department will work with its counterparts in the nine other states to hold the vendor accountable and ensure anyone impacted by this breach is protected, and all data is adequately protected in the future. The other states impacted by the breach of this multi-state vendor are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine and Oklahoma.
AJLA will send an email to all Joblink account holders by next Wednesday, March 29, detailing the latest information and how individuals can register for 12 months of free credit monitoring. The State is working to ensure AJLA also provides all impacted individuals with free credit monitoring and protection service for 24 months.
All users of Joblink should remain vigilant with respect to reviewing bank, credit card and debit card account statements regularly and particularly over the next twelve to twenty-four months and immediately report any suspicious activity to your bank or credit company. VDOL is complying fully with its obligations under Vermont’s Security Breach Notification Act.
AJLA’s Joblink system is a standalone system and is not linked to any other State of Vermont system. JobLink is a database that is used by the Vermont Department of Labor, and nine other states, to help job seekers perform job searches and create and post resumes. When a person files for Unemployment Benefits, VDOL requires them to sign up in Vermont’s Joblink as well as to perform regular job searches unless they have a return to work date inside 10 weeks. VDOL has contracted with AJLA since 2003.
Source: Department of Labor 3.24.2017