GE employees’ PII breached in a service provider security incident

On March 20, 2020, General Electric (GE) filed a data breach notice stating that a security incident occurred with one of its service providers. Personal information of employees, former employees, and beneficiaries were compromised in the attack.

The extent of the breach

On February 28, 2020, Canon Business Process Services (Canon), a GE service provider, notified GE that an unauthorized hacker accessed a Canon employee email account containing information on the GE employees between February 3 and 14, 2020. The compromised documents included direct deposit forms; driver licenses; passports; birth certificates; marriage certificates; death certificates; medical child support orders; tax withholding forms; beneficiary designation forms; and applications for benefits such as retirement, severance, and death benefits. The documents may have included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, bank account numbers, dates of birth, and other information.

Canon has hired a security expert to investigate and step up its security measures. Fortunately, GE's systems were not affected by the breach; however, GE is taking measures to improve its security posture as well. Canon is offering free identity protection and credit monitoring services to affected individuals for two years.

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