Graphics card company Nvidia suffered a data breach in which private employee information was leaked, the company has revealed.

Forbes reports that after the Nvidia breach, the company emailed employees requiring them to reset passwords for corporate accounts, and warning employees to be alert for bank fraud and phishing attacks.

The company said in an email, ‘Our IT team has since taken extensive measures to enhance the security capabilities of our network to protect against this type of access occurring in the future. This work was performed last weekend and included a requirement that all employees reset their passwords.’

Nvidia breach - corporate acounts breached

SC Magazine says further details of the Nvidia breach have not been released, but that corporate accounts were compromised, rather than customer ones.

Details of the Nvidia breach were revealed by the company in a privacy notification sent to the California office of the Attorney General, which indicates that the number of employees affected was greater than 500.

Phishing attack?

It’s not clear how the original attacker gained access to Nvidia accounts, but the privacy notification included two pieces of advice for employees regarding phishing attacks and also sharing passwords between private and corporate accounts.

‘Be alert to 'phishing' attacks by those who may act like a colleague or friend and request sensitive information such as passwords, social security numbers or bank account numbers. We will never ask for this type of information over email,' the company said.

'Regularly change the passwords on both company and personal accounts. Do not use the same password for more than one account.'