What You Should Know about the Defacement of EEOC’s Public Portal

The EEOC’s Public Portal was defaced early in the morning of Sunday, September 13. The Portal is a website designed to assist the public in determining if the EEOC is the right federal agency to handle a complaint, allow the public to submit a pre-charge inquiry, and schedule appointments. The Portal was taken down on Sunday, September 13, and a security analysis was conducted.   

The entity who defaced the Public Portal had the ability to change the text of the front page of the Portal. While the Public Portal talks to other EEOC systems, very little data is stored within the Portal itself. While our investigation is ongoing, to the best of our current knowledge, the entity who defaced the Portal did not access other EEOC systems or private sector and federal sector enforcement information. As part of the security assessment conducted on Sunday, September 13, EEOC examined the EEOC systems that interface with the Public Portal and found no evidence of malicious activity on those other systems.   

The vulnerability that resulted in the defacement of the Public Portal has been resolved, and the Public Portal was restored to service on Sunday evening.  

The EEOC continues to coordinate with the appropriate authorities to investigate the origins of the defacement.