Fashion jobseekers caught in privacy breach

Jobseekers who applied for roles at some of New Zealand’s largest fashion retail chains are being warned their personal data may have been hacked.

The retail company Just Group, which owns Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Jacqui E, Peter Alexander, Dotti and Smiggle, recruits staff using third-party company PageUp.

PageUp confirmed its client data had been accessed by ‘‘unauthorised persons’’ in a malware attack on May 23.

Just Group said in an email to past and current employees and unsuccessful job applicants, that their names, email and physical addresses, phone numbers, bio- graphical details such as date of birth, gender, country of residence, and employment details might have been compromised.

Sydney-based PageUp, which has 2.6 million users in 190 countries, said no contracts, applicant resumes, credit card information or bank account information had been affected.

PageUp chief executive Karen Cariss said the organisation was working with international law enforcement, authorities and independent security experts to prevent a recurrence.

Earlier this week health insurer Nib suspended its use of PageUp following the news that job applicants’ data was hacked.

Nib New Zealand chief executive Rob Hennin said the company was made aware two weeks ago of a data security incident. He said customer information had not been affected.

Building company Downer has also disabled its recruitment database as a result of the PageUp data breach.

Publishing group Bauer Media, retailer Kathmandu and Australian airline Jetstar have all emailed job applicants to advise their privacy may have been breached.