Oklahomans Personal Information Accessed During Cyber Hack

In a surprising announcement Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Oklahomans looking for work were told their personal information had been compromised.

“The information that was hacked was names, dates of birth and social security numbers. At this time, we haven't got any confirmation that the information's been used for anything and that's what I know right now,” Shelley Zumwalt with the Office of Management and Enterprise Services said over the phone Thursday.

Zumwalt declined an on camera interview saying the departments involved were in “heavy response”.

The cyber breech hit the website OKJobMatch.com used by anyone looking for a job in Oklahoma or anyone in the state filing for unemployment. By law, anyone signing up for unemployment benefits must sign up for OKJobMatch within seven days of filing.

In all, the number of people in Oklahoma affected topped 430,000. However, nine other states were also involved in the hack stretching from Maine to Alabama to Oklahoma.

The site is run by a Kansas-based third-party contractor, America's Job Link Alliance. According to the state, AJLA knew about the hack last Friday, but didn't confirm Oklahomans were affected until Wednesday.

“We've been on conference calls with them daily setting up exactly what the response will be from them to take care of everyone that was affected,” Zumwalt said.

This breech is the latest of recent concerns about Oklahoma's cyber security. But the state says OkJobMatch is a standalone website, not connected to state networks. When asked whether Oklahomans should be concerned with the kinds of contractors the state works with, Zumwalt said the hack would be a part of potential contract renegotiations.

“This incident, whenever the contract comes up for renewal, this incident will be part of the evaluation process where we decide if we are going to continue with the relationship,” she said.