MN DEED officials report apparent hack connected to online job board

ST PAUL, Minn. — Yet another Minnesota state agency reported Tuesday it’s been affected by a data breach, this time, at the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

According to DEED officials, the department became aware of the potential hack after monitoring what it called “suspicious communications” stemming from a person claiming to represent an approved employer on the agency’s job board, MinnesotaWorks.net. When DEED contacted the employer, the business told state officials that the people in question were not part of their payroll.

In response to the situation, DEED notified jobseekers on Wednesday, Sept. 6, that the unauthorized parties could have potentially gained access to users’ personal information like phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses by viewing their resumes.

“The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development respects and values the privacy of jobseekers’ personal information,” said a statement from DEED sent to KARE 11 on Tuesday. “A recent data security incident may have resulted in unauthorized access of jobseekers’ contact information such as physical addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers. DEED immediately revoked the unauthorized access on the MinnesotaWorks.net website.”

While DEED said it acted quickly to revoke the posing employer’s access to the site, the department said it’s “actively undertaken a plan to improve the infrastructure of the MinnesotaWorks.net website and to make security technology upgrades as necessary.”

In its letter to jobseekers, DEED said it was not aware of any fraudulent use of users’ information, but provided resources to help people avoid a potential identity theft.

Ask to see your credit report. Under federal law, you have the right to receive a free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each of the three consumer credit reporting companies. You may request these reports online at or by telephone at (877) 322-8228.
Check your credit report for any transactions or accounts that you do not recognize.
Call the telephone number listed on the credit report or visit the Federal Trade Commission’s website on identity theft if you see anything in your credit report that you do not understand.

DEED also urged those impacted to be vigilant and careful about what kinds of information they choose to share online.

In addition to a recent bout of school data breaches, the state’s Department of Education also reported a security breach as part of a nationwide hack in June.