Monster.com Hacked - Security Alert

Well, they are trying to keep it low-key, but Monster was hacked. If you or anyone you know has a profile there (active or not) you need to log in and change your password - albeit after the fact. This is the alert they had buried on a sub-page on the site:

January 23, 2009

As is the case with many companies that
maintain large databases of information, Monster is the target of
illegal attempts to access and extract information from its database.
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 information accessed does not include resumes.
Monster does not generally collect – and the accessed information does
not include - sensitive data such as social security numbers or
personal financial data.

Immediately upon learning about this,
Monster initiated an investigation and took corrective steps. It is
important to know the company continually monitors for any illicit use
of information in our database, and so far, we have not detected the
misuse of this information.

In order to help assure the
security of your information, you may soon be required to change your
password upon logging onto the site. Please follow the instructions on
the site. We would also recommend you proactively change your password
yourself as an added precaution. We regret any inconvenience this may
cause you, but feel it is important that you take these preventative
measures.

As a further precaution, we want to remind you that an
email address could be used to target “phishing” emails. Monster will
never send an unsolicited email asking you to confirm your username and
password, nor will Monster ask you to download any software, “tool” or
“access agreement” in order to use your Monster account. Monster’s
security page, http://my.monster.com/securitycenter,
provides users with a substantial amount of information about different
types of Internet fraud. We encourage you to review the information to
learn more about what you can do to protect yourself on the Internet.