In a statement sent to Google employees on Monday, director of US benefits Teri Wisness acknowledged that some employee data had been breached when a third-party vendor accidentally sent personal information, apparently Social Security numbers and names, to another company.
The affected employees, located at the company’s Mountain View location, were informed that no details on family members or benefits were released, and that as soon as the breach was discovered, the benefits manager deleted the document and informed the vendor. Google conducted an investigation into the incident and reportedly found that the information inadvertently released was not “misused” or viewed by anyone else before it was finally deleted.
Even though this latest high-profile breach was internal, not the action of a hacker or a result of malware, it still highlights the need for vigilance in online security. Potential consequences of this mistake could have been far-reaching. Because of the breach, Google is offering those employees whose data was compromised free credit monitoring for two years.
John Peterson, Vice President, Enterprise Product Management for Internet security firm Comodo, said the breach shines a light on the need for companies dealing with third parties to protect themselves stringently, as third party vendors may not be as vigilant as the company itself in maintaining the integrity of the information generated by the company.
