Seagate Technology is the latest victim of cybercrime when hackers using a targeted phishing scam stole scores of W-2 forms together with detailed personal information of its employees.
The hard disk drive maker told Brian Krebs, a security researcher, that online thieves deceived one of its employees to hand over W-2 forms of the company's entire staff, current and past.
These documents contain vital personal information of Seagate employees such as their personal information, social security numbers, addresses, and salaries. They are highly prized by criminals since they can be used in filing bogus requests for tax refunds with the Internal Revenue Service IRS and the states.
In March 2, phishers presumably sent a company note to an employee, requesting him to provide the W-2 forms. Thinking that the request is legitimate, the employee sent the information to the hackers.
Seagate said that the scammers hit the company about one week after KrebsOnSecurity warned its readers to watch out for phishing scams targeting HR and finance employees that send fake letters from the company's CEO asking for the W-2 forms of the employees.
The security research firm initially learned of the Seagate hacking from a former employee of the hard drive manufacturer who received the company's fake written notice. Eric DeRitis, Seagate spokesman stated that the notice appear all too real.
"On March 1, Seagate Technology learned that the 2015 W-2 tax form information for current and former U.S.-based employees was sent to an unauthorized third party in response to the phishing email scam," said DeRitis.
"The information was sent by an employee who believed the phishing email was a legitimate internal company request," he added.
DeRitis said that the moment his company learned about it, he notified federal authorities immediately. They are now investigating the hacking incident.
Following this incident, there were other news reports that other companies were also victimized by hackers. They include Snapchat and GCI who inadvertently provided thieves with approximately 2,500 W-2s of its employees.
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