After the illegal access of the database of Monster. com - the second instance in the last year and a half - a wealth of personal data of countless job-seekers has gone down the drain! With the data, including names, sex, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, being stolen, the employment search site is asking users to go in for a change in their login credentials immediately for safety's sake.

The breach of the database impelled an alert from USAJobs, the US government website for federal jobs, which is hosted by Monster. com, and was also subject to the data theft.

The spokeswoman for the Massachusetts-based website, Nikki Richardson said that only an undated advisory on the company's website is being sent as a warning. The company has refrained from either sending emails or making phone-calls to customers for warning them of the breach.

Of the breach, Richardson said: "We take this very seriously. We're devoted to continuing to put significant resources toward the protection of our database, and no company in our business can completely prevent unauthorized access to data. We believe Monster security measures are as or more robust than other sites in the industry."

Even though Monster. com has started checking for misuse of the stolen information - which luckily does not include social security numbers and financial data - nothing substantial has surfaced as yet.

According to Richardson, certain changes have been made since break-in came to light, but the company would not be discussing security procedures publicly till investigations are complete.