PageUp, the Australia-based HR Software-as-a-Service provider, has alerted international data authorities over its massive data breach, suggesting the breach could compromise the personal details for users worldwide.

It was reported yesterday that PageUp revealed that it had been hit with a ‘malware infection’ that resulted in a massive data breach that could potentially affect thousands of Australians.

As the firm manages millions of job applications around the world, it has alerted data regulators, including the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, according to the BBC. The ICO confirmed that it was investigating the breach.

The firm has 2.6 million active users across over 190 countries.

The breach comes shortly after the General Data Protection Regulation came into effect in Europe. The new regulation has increased the limit of potential fines for firms that have compromised user data to €20 million or 4% of worldwide annual turnover Staffing Industry Analysts GDPR FAQ is available to research subscribers.

As a result of the data breach, many companies have, shut down their recruitment pages and notified applicants of the breach. The Australian Financial Review reported that PageUp could also face lawsuits in addition to losing customers.

Staffing firms are among the many clients that use PageUp and it is possible that they could have been impacted by the data breach.

Australia’s Programmed, which was acquired by Persol last year, uses PageUp’s HR software. In a testimonial on PageUp’s website, it states: “After seeing all that PageUp has to offer, Programmed realised it would benefit greatly from implementing the PageUp Unified Talent Management HR software solution.” It added that Michaela Lihou, the group Manager for HR Innovation & Improvement at Programmed, said PageUp’s HR software has made work easier for all across the entire organisation.”

Update

This article initially indicated Randstad used PageUp. However, Randstad reported that while it once used PageUp in Australia, it had ended its contract.