Data Privacy of AmeriCorps Participants May Have Been Violated

The Corporation for National and Community Service on Friday warned AmeriCorps applicants and participants that a computer glitch may have allowed others to see some of their personal information.

The federal agency said the problems had been fixed—and offered to enroll those who were affected in a free credit-monitoring and identity-theft insurance program for one year.

“We are working diligently to strengthen and ensure the security of our computer systems,” it said in a letter to those affected.

The problems affected MyAmeriCorps, a Web portal where people can apply for the national-service program and current members and alumni can keep track of financial records such as tax forms. The agency said in its letter that people may have been able to view information such as addresses and Social Security numbers.

It said the details could not be seen through normal operations of the site, but could be found by people who knew a log-in name and used a specific technique to bypass the required password.