Sensitive personal data on Monsanto personnel and customers breached

Intruders accessed servers at a subsidiary of the international agricultural giant two months ago.

The company discovered unauthorized access to systems “by an outside party” that affected files on customers and employees of its Precision Planting subsidiary, Reuben Shelton, general counsel at Precision Planting, wrote in a May 14 breach disclosure letter to the office of the Maryland Attorney General.

The data exposed included names, addresses, possibly Social Security numbers and some financial account information.

Precision Planting provides farm equipment and services to agricultural customers.

 The compromise does not seem to be a case of data theft.

“We believe this unauthorized access was not an attempt to steal customer information,” Shelton wrote. “However, it is possible that files containing personal information may have been accessed and therefore we are making this notification.”

The incident has been contained, according to Monsanto officials.

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