WARWICK – Construction staffing firm TradeSource Inc. will pay $230,000 in penalties over a 2020 data breach that impacted more than 3,000 Massachusetts residents, the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Thursday.
An employee at TradeSource, which is headquartered in Warwick and has a branch in Natick, Mass., fell victim to a phishing email in Dec. 2020 resulting in a compromise of credentials that allowed hackers to enter the system and steal the personal data of users, including names and Social Security numbers.
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In response to the data breach, TradeSource provided affected residents with two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection.
Healey’s office claimed that TradeSource violated Massachusetts data privacy laws by failing to have a written information security program in place during or prior to the data breach. Under Massachusetts laws, companies must maintain a written information security program in order to protect such data.
“Companies need to have the proper security measures and systems in place to keep the sensitive information of individuals safe from hackers,” said Healey. “My office is pleased to have secured this settlement and will continue to ensure companies are abiding by our data security laws and protecting the personal information of Massachusetts residents.”
Under the terms of the settlement, TradeSource must also come into compliance with Massachusetts laws, as well as continue to implement and maintain a written information security program and continue to train its employees on the importance of personal information security.
TradeSource did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
