Data thieves have hacked into an employee database containing the personal information of thousands of Catholic workers across Michigan, exposing thousands to the possibility of identity theft, officials said.
The Michigan Catholic Conference, which administers payroll and benefits for lay employees of parishes, dioceses, schools, charities, hospitals and other Catholic organisations, sent letters to more than 10,000 affected employees last week warning them that information including names, social security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and wages were possibly subject to the cyber attack.
The attack did not affect bishops or clergy, the conference said, whose pay and benefits are administered through a separate system.
Affected employees include about 200 members of the Archdiocese of Detroit's Central Services, as well as many parishes and schools.
Paul A. Long, president and CEO of the conference, said in a letter to the employees that hackers were able to gain access to the information through a "sophisticated attack" on the conference's human resources database.
"After reviewing the report from the internet consulting firm, MCC immediately took out of operation and upgraded the password protected page that exchanges information with your employer," Long said. "Social Security numbers were replaced with another identifier in the system and all dates of birth and addresses were removed."
The conference is offering all affected employees one year's worth of free identity protection through a local credit bureau, which includes insurance policies against fraudulent bank transfers and wage loss. Information on signing up for the service was included in the letter.
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