The personal information of a large number of Montanans may have been acquired by hackers recently. Montana Attorney General Tim Fox says two instances recently should warn Montanans to take precautions.

“Last Friday, Facebook notified our Office of Consumer Protection at the Montana Department of Justice that approximately 15 million of their user accounts were impacted by a data breach,” Fox said. “We also learned recently that Legacy Properties, a Bozeman based property management company, also experienced a data breach that they believe affects between 900 and over 1,000 Montanans.”

The hackers attempted to blackmail the individuals that were wrapped up in the Legacy Properties data breach by publishing the information and saying they would not remove it from the internet without payment. Fox says there are some important steps we can all take to help make our identities more secure.

“First of all, on social media sites we recommend that Montanans change their passwords regularly and that they always use a very strong password,” Fox said. “We also recommend that you use two factor authentications for login and refrain from using any automatic sign in function.”

For more information about safety or steps to take if a data breach does occur Montanans can contact the office of consumer protection at (406) 444-4500.

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