An undisclosed number of Precision Planting customers' and employees' personal information may have been accessed.

Source: eSecurityPlanet.com

May 26, 2014 — Precision Planting, a wholly owned subsidiary of Monsanto, recently began notifying an undisclosed number of customers and employees that their personal information may have been exposed when its systems were hacked.

The breach was discovered on March 27, 2014. Data on the affected servers included customers' names, addresses, tax identification numbers (which in some cases were Social Security numbers), and (in some cases) financial information. The servers also held some HR data, including employee W-2 forms that contained names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and (in some cases) driver's license numbers.

"We believe this unauthorized access was not an attempt to steal customer information; however, because it is possible that files containing your personal information may have been accessed, we wanted to make you aware of the incident as soon as possible," Precision Planting Commercial Lead John Larkin wrote in the notification letter [PDF]. "We have partnered with a leading forensics firm to understand and remediate this issue and also are working with the authorities."

All those affected are being offered one free year of membership in Experian's ProtectMyID Alert service. Affected businesses are also being offered one free year of membership in Experian's Business Credit Advantage service.

Customers and employees with questions are advised to contact (866) 926-9801.