AFP

New York, Jan 28: Monster Worldwide Inc, the popular global website for job hunters, has said that hackers have broken into its databases and stolen personal data.

Monster spokeswoman Nikki Richardson confirmed yesterday that sites around the world had been targeted, but said some regions, notably Asia Pacific and eastern Europe, were spared.

She said Monster was working with the "appropriate law enforcement agencies" but declined to say in which countries. In the United States, where the company is based, "an investigation is in progress."

Monster operates in 36 countries with millions of users, including 4.5 million in Britain.

A statement on www.monster.com said: "We recently learned our database was illegally accessed and certain contact and account data were taken, including Monster user IDs and passwords, email addresses, names, phone numbers, and some basic demographic data."

The breach did not access resumes, social security numbers or financial data, Monster said.

The company advised clients to change their password and said it had taken its own "corrective steps."

Hackers could use email addresses to "phish" for further information, the company warned.

This is the second serious data breach at the company in 18 months, according to Computer Weekly magazine.

Earlier this month, payments processor Heartland Payment Systems, based in New Jersey, said that it had suffered a security breach in 2008.

"We found evidence of an intrusion last week and immediately notified federal law enforcement officials as well as the card brands," said Robert Baldwin, Heartland's president in a statement on January 20.