According to an announcement made by the Federal Aviation Administration, an agency computer server was hacked last week. The attackers managed to gain access to the details of more than 45,000 employees and FAA retirees. The information included complete names and Social Security numbers. All this data was stored on only two of the 48 accessed files.

"All affected employees will receive individual letters to notify them about the breach," noted the FAA’s statement, which was released on Monday. It also mentioned that "The FAA is moving quickly to prevent similar incidents and has identified immediate steps as well as longer-term measures to further protect personal information." Employees who believe that their details have been affected by the breach will be provided with a toll-free number and the FAA will send out letters to the ones who believe their data might have been stolen.

Fortunately, the attacked server was not connected to the air traffic control system or any other operational systems, which would have significantly escaladed the dangers.

The attack is being investigated by the authorities, and the FAA announced its full cooperation.

This is not the first attack reported in the past several months, as similar incidents occurred at Kaiser Permanente, at security maker Kaspersky Lab, and at payment processors RBS WorldPay and Heartland Payment Systems.

These recent events point out that there are many security issues that demand attention, in order to make sure that the information available over the Internet can be accessed and used only by the authorized personnel.