Hackers Nab Seagate Employee W-2s Via Phishing Scam

Hackers have been out in total force this tax season, and Seagate is the latest major tech company to fall victim to a targeted phishing scam.

The Cupertino, Calif. data storage company revealed to security researcher Brian Krebs that online miscreants last week tricked 1 of its employees into handing over 2022 West-2 forms for all its current and by U.S.-based employees. The W-2 documents, of course, contained employee Social Security numbers, salaries, addresses, and other personal information.

The incident occurred on March 2, when phishers sent a Seagate employee what appeared to be a legitimate internal company note requesting the W-2 forms. The employee obliged, inadvertently sending the data to hackers.

Seagate notified federal authorities near the phishing attack, and is now offering affected employees a two-year membership for credit monitoring services, though every bit Krebs pointed out, that will not protect them from tax refund fraud.

"Nosotros deeply regret this mistake and we offering our sincerest apologies to everyone afflicted," the company said. "Seagate is aggressively analyzing where process changes are needed and we will implement those changes as quickly every bit nosotros tin."

The news comes as Snapchat but final calendar week issued a mea culpa to its employees after revealing that one of its staffers likewise fell for a phishing scam and "revealed some payroll data" to hackers. Give-and-take has it Fast Company is also a victim.

Meanwhile, the IRS has temporarily suspended its Identity Protection Pivot tool, which allows taxpayers to retrieve their IP PINs online, and is "looking at further strengthening its security features."

An IP Pivot is a "six-digit number that provides an additional layer of protection for taxpayers who accept been or could become victims of revenue enhancement-related identity theft," the IRS explained. Taxpayers using an IP PIN tin discover more than information about the change here.

The motion comes after the IRS concluding month announced that hackers attempted to apply some 464,000 stolen Social Security numbers and an automatic bot to generate Due east-file PINs, which can exist used to electronically file a tax return.

Well-nigh Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag'southward expert on fitness and smart domicile products. Educational activity yoga for nearly 10 years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fitness trackers, center rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, forcefulness training machines, treadmills, and more than. Angela also tests smart home devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, just to name a few.