Monster users victims of data theft

User information, including passwords, has been stolen from job site Monster, the company has announced.

Monster's database of user account information - which includes user IDs, passwords, email addresses, names, phone numbers, and some demographic data - was illegally accessed and information was taken, the company said on Friday.

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The information that was stolen did not include CVs or sensitive information like social security numbers and financial data. But someone could use the data that was breached to contact Monster users and use social engineering to trick them out of their information.

Monster is urging its users to visit the site and change their password. As a matter of policy, Monster does not send unsolicited email asking users to confirm usernames and passwords or to download anything.

Job sites are a likely target during an economic downturn, security company AppRiver said in a recent report on spam and other internet security threats.

More information on security tips is available on the Monster security web page.

Original article: User data stolen from job site Monster from CNET News.com