The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with other federal and postal agencies, has opened an investigation into a data breach of U.S. Postal Service information systems, USPS reported today. Customers who contacted the Postal Service Customer Care Center via telephone or email between January 1 and August 16 are at risk of having their names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses compromised. Postal Service employee files were also said to be breached.
“It’s an unfortunate fact of life these days that every organization connected to the Internet is a constant target for cyber intrusion activity,” said Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe in a written statement. “The United States Postal Service is no different. Fortunately, we have seen no evidence of malicious use of the compromised data and we are taking steps to help our employees protect against any potential misuse of their data.”
Apparently, no sensitive data from bulk mailers or their customer files was affected. “There is no evidence that any information other than what was mentioned in the statement was compromised in any way,” said Postal Service spokesperson Sue Brennan.
Neither Post Office or usps.com transactional systems were involved in the breach, according to early findings of the investigation.
