Hackers Strike At Data Of Thousands Of Michigan Catholic Workers; Social Security Numbers Stolen

LANSING (AP) -- Hackers cracked a computer network and got access to Social Security numbers and other personal information of more than 10,000 people who work for Roman Catholic churches or church affiliates around Michigan.

"I cannot tell you how many prayers have been said in this organization in the last two weeks about this," David Maluchnik, spokesman for the Michigan Catholic Conference, told the Detroit Free Press.

The Lansing-based organization processes payroll and employee benefits for people who work at Catholic churches, schools, hospitals and orphanages across the state, as well as at diocesan offices in Detroit and six other cities. It is offering a free year of credit monitoring and other services.

No priests or nuns were affected because their personal information is on a separate computer system.

The hack affected about 200 employees at the Archdiocese of Detroit, spokesman Joe Kohn said Friday.

"People always say, `Why me? Why us?' But the truth is, it's everybody - everybody is vulnerable to this," he said.

Maluchnik said new security steps have been taken.

"God forbid, if something like this were to happen again, the only information that a hacker would get is a series of numbers" and not names, he said.

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