Michigan Catholic Conference Latest Data Hack Target

Personal information of more than 10,000 Michigan Catholic Conference workers across the state was compromised in a major cyber attack, officials said Friday.

In a letter to employees, the Michigan Catholic Conference offered them a one-year membership in an identity protection service, including a $1 million insurance policy covering lost wages, fraudulent electronic transfers from bank accounts and fees to private investigators victims might need to track down people using their information.

Affected employees worked at churches, schools, hospitals, orphanage and diocesan offices in Detroit, Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Marquette and Saginaw.

David Maluchnik, communications director for the Michigan Catholic Conference, told the Detroit Free Press it’s likely hackers obtained employees’ names, their Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and how much they earn.

Hackers were able to get around sturdy firewalls on the computers used a central offices, he said.

“We’ve learned a significant amount from this,” Maluchnik said. adding the payroll system has been replaced and all passwords used by Catholic employers across the state to access workers data have been changed.

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If hackers try to access the information now, all they will get is a series of numbers and not employees’ names, Maluchnik said.

The problem surfaced in late July when the IT staff found a suspicious file on the network.

In Metro Detroit, about 200 workers are affected.

A similar data breach occurred at the Archdiocese of Seattle, where the information of about 90,000 people was affected.