Job seekers' personal data compromised

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. government has issued a warning to millions of Internet job seekers whose personal information may have been stolen by hackers.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management issued the warning to users of USAJOBS.gov, a Web site that was compromised by a security breach at Monster.com, the service provider for the Web site, the New York Post reported Monday.

"Recently, malicious software, known as Infostealer.Monstres, was used to gain unauthorized access to the Monster.com resume database to steal (job seekers') contact information," the alert reads.

Office of Personnel Management spokesman Peter Graves said the cyber criminals who stole the information used the e-mail addresses they obtained to send users "phishing" e-mail messages, which are designed to obtain additional information about users, including Social Security numbers and financial information.

Users of the Web sites are advised to beware of "counterfeit '"phishing" e-mail that advertise positions managing financial transactions or cashing checks," the alert says. "These e-mails are attempting to engage job seekers in a money laundering or bad-check scam."