America’s Job Link Alliance Data Breach
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is investigating whether a reported data breach at America’s Job Link Alliance (“AJLA”) resulted in the theft of the private information of America’s JobLink website users in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Oklahoma, and Vermont.
America’s JobLink website coordinates federal unemployment and workforce development programs and links job seekers with employers. Individual job seekers that use the AJLA website are required to provide their personal information, including name, date of birth, and Social Security Account Number, as part of the job search process. The data breach may have led to the theft of this sensitive, personal information.
On March 22, 2017, America’s JobLink (“AJL”) issued a press release advising that the multi-state web-based system may have been the victim of a hacking incident from an outside source. The press release stated: “On March 21st, AJLA-[Technical Support] confirmed that a malicious third party “hacker” exploited a vulnerability in the AJL application code to view the names, Social Security Numbers, and dates of birth of job seekers in the AJL systems of up to ten states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Oklahoma, and Vermont.”
The press release further stated: “On February 20, 2017, a hacker created a job seeker account in an America’s JobLink (AJL) system. The hacker then exploited a misconfiguration in the application code to gain unauthorized access to certain information of other job seekers.” The press release revealed: “The code misconfiguration was introduced in an AJL system update in October 2016.” Additionally, the press release disclosed that “America’s Job Link Alliance-Technical Support . . . first noticed unusual activity in AJL via system error messages on March 12.”
Personal compromised information may be easily sold on the “dark web” and often used illegally to steal one’s identity, open financial accounts, or transfer funds from financial accounts. Although AJLA says there is no indication that hacked information has been misused, users may have been negatively impacted by the data breach.
If you established an America’s JobLink account, entered personal information on AJLA’s website, or have received a notice that your personal information may have been compromised, or if you believe your personal information has been stolen, please contact John Kehoe, Esq., [email protected], (215) 792-6676, Ext. 801, for a free, no-obligation evaluation of your potential legal rights.
Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. is a multidisciplinary, plaintiff–side law firm dedicated to protecting investors and consumers from corporate fraud, negligence, and other wrongdoing. Driven by a strong and principled sense of social responsibility and obtaining justice for the aggrieved, Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. represents plaintiffs seeking to recover investment losses resulting from securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, corporate wrongdoing or malfeasance, those harmed by anticompetitive practices, and consumers victimized by fraud, false claims, deception or data breaches. Together, the partners of the Kehoe Law Firm, P.C. have spent more than 30 years prosecuting precedent-setting securities and financial fraud cases in federal and state courts on behalf of institutional and individual clients.
