Earlier this month, Monster discovered a malicious code that attempted to harvest stolen email addresses from its database and transfer them to a server in Ukraine. The hackers then sent out phishing emails that claimed to be prospective employers offering a work-from-home job that asked for access to the user's bank account. Monster responded by notifying these job seekers that their contact records had been downloaded illegally and is now working with law enforcement officials and the appropriate regulatory agencies. Monster also revealed that this incident was not the first time the company's database had been the target of criminal activity.

The company says that to boost its security measures it is implementing new robust capabilities for worldwide monitoring and surveillance of site traffic, reviewing and tightening all site access policies and controls and launching a series of targeted initiatives to protect job seeker contact information.

"Protecting the job seekers who use our Web site is a top priority at Monster," says Sal Iannuzzi, chairman and CEO of Monster Worldwide. "These issues are increasingly prevalent throughout the Internet, which is why Monster is enhancing its security and reaching out to everyone with an active resume on our site. We believe these actions are the responsible steps to protect our valued job seekers and customers."

Approximately 1.6 million job seekers were the victims of the phishing scam.