Postal Service Says Cyberattack May Have Breached Employee Data

The U.S. Postal Service said Monday it is the victim of a cyberattack and that information about its employees, including Social Security numbers, may have been compromised.

The FBI and other federal agencies are investigating, the agency said in a statement.

Postal Service spokesman David Partenheimer said personal information that may have been obtained in the attack includes employees' names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, addresses, emergency contacts and other information.

However, he also said that customers at local post offices or those using its website, usps.com, were not affected. But people who used its call center may have had telephone numbers, email addresses and other information compromised.

The agency isn't recommending that those customers take any action.

The Postal Service provided no immediate information on how many people may have been affected. It employs over 617,000 workers.

"The intrusion is limited in scope and all operations of the Postal Service are functioning normally," Partenheimer said.

"It is an unfortunate fact of life these days that every organization connected to the Internet is a constant target for cyber intrusion activity," Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement. "The United States Postal Service is no different."

"Fortunately, we have seen no evidence of malicious use of the compromised data and we are taking steps to help our employees protect against any potential misuse of their data."