The multinational corporation General Electric (GE) has confirmed a data breach that exposed current employees, former employees, and beneficiary information. The information was able to be obtained after a service provider of GE’s (Canon) discovered an employee account was compromised between February 3rd and 14th, 2020. Information obtained in the breach included direct deposit forms, driver’s 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 with related forms and documents. The related forms may have included bank account numbers in addition to the types of information in the other documents. GE’s systems were not affected by the breach and Canon is taking the proper steps to remediate the issue.
Analyst Notes
Canon is providing free identity and credit monitoring services through Experian for two years, so those affected should reach out for more information. When using third-party services providers it is advised that corporations make sure they are taking the proper steps to ensure their information is being protected.
