BOSTON -- There has been a security alert at the online job Web site Monster.com after hackers stole 1.6 million online records from the Internet recruiter, including the personal information of several hundred thousand job seekers.

The crooks apparently posed as employers to gain access to the Maynard-based company's site, obtaining logon passwords used by recruiters and companies to access resumes on the job search Web site, reported the Boston Herald.

Once they obtained contact information, they e-mailed the victims and tricked people into installing malicious software on their computers.

Monster told the Herald they are still investigating the incident and that they have not received any reports of identity theft. The company said it believes the information the hackers obtained was limited to job seekers' names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

Security analysts said that a program known as a "Trojan Horse" which installs malicious software took the Monster users information and uploaded it to another server. It then sends everyone on the list a "phishing" e-mail using the Monster logo and some of the job seeker's personal information, telling them to download a fake "Job Seekers Tool" onto their computers, software that is another Trojan Horse.

A text file requesting money to be paid to the attackers in order to decrypt the files is then left on the computer.