Dive Brief:

• A Boeing employee set off a cybersecurity breach after sending his spouse a spread sheet with employees’ names, Social Security numbers, birthdates and code numbers, reports Komo. The breach affected 36,000 workers in four states.
• The worker told Boeing that he didn’t intend to cause a security breach and that he didn’t know the spreadsheet contained confidential employee information. He sent the sheet in order to get help with Microsoft Excel formatting. Boeing is investigating the incident.
• The company informed Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson of the breach. Boeing is offering affected employees free credit monitoring.

Dive Insight:

Cybersecurity breaches aren’t always preventable, but employers can reduce the risk by having cyber security and safety policies in place. Employers should warn workers about leaving sensitive information on unattended computer screens and leaving passwords and codes where unauthorized workers can access them. Strong training programs are key to ensuring human error doesn't take down the entire organization.

​HR departments, in particular, are prime targets for hackers because of the sensitive information they collect and manage. Spoofing and phishing are common tactics used against managers that handle sensitive information and are used to it being requested by upper management.