CalPERS experienced a third-party cybersecurity breach affecting the personal information of 769,000 retirees, said David Miller, chairman of CalPERS' risk and audit committee at Wednesday's meeting.
The breach involved PBI Research Services/Berwyn Group, an organization that assists the $456.6 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, with confirming participants' deaths to ensure proper payment and guard against overpayment, Mr. Miller said.
Impacted retirees and their beneficiaries will be given two years of credit monitoring and additional steps they can take to protect their information.
CalPERS officials were initially notified about the breach on June 6 but were not informed that CalPERS' data had been stolen until June 9, said John Myers, CalPERS spokesman, in an email.
"No CalPERS systems were affected. This was encrypted data that we sent to a vendor," Mr. Myers said.
In a Wednesday news release, CalPERS said PBI has reported the matter to federal law enforcement and has told CalPERS it has resolved the vulnerability, while also adding additional security measures.
