BFC Bulletins Monthly News Digest
Tags Cybersecurity Data
Consumers expect financial institutions to provide an expert level of security when it comes to sensitive data. Over the years, however, some of the biggest data breaches have involved, in some way or another, financial institutions. Here’s a quick look at ten of the biggest data breaches impacting the financial services industry:
- In 2005, CitiFinancial sent a box of computer tapes containing the personal information of 3.9 million customers via parcel service. The box containing the tapes was subsequently lost.
- Student loan company Educational Credit Management Corporation fell victim to a data breach in 2010, when a “portable media” device containing the personal information of 3.3 million people of theirs was stolen.
- In 2009, electronic bill payment service provider CheckFree Corporation was hit by cybercriminals who hijacked and redirected its site traffic to a malicious site. At least 5 million (and possibly as many as 42 million) customers logged in with their credentials or enrolled in the fraudulent site to attempt to pay bills.
- In 2003, Data Processors International sought the help of the FBI and the Secret Service after a hacker breached their security systems and stole as many as 8 million credit card numbers.
- An employee of Korea Credit Bureau, which offers fraud detection and risk management services, secretly copied databases containing customer details in 2014. Identification numbers, credit card numbers and addresses were stolen from 20 million victims, 40% of South Korea’s entire population at the time.
- In 2005, MasterCard reported that a hacker had accessed CardSystems Solutions Incorporated’s computer network and compromised 40 million credit card numbers.
- In 2014, JPMorgan Chase reported a data breach that affected 7 million small businesses and 76 million households. Initially, the bank had claimed that only a million accounts were affected in the breach, which was detected a month after its initial intrusion.
- In 1984, somebody stole a credit file password to TRW Information Systems that allowed access to the credit histories of 90 million people. The files contained names, addresses, birth dates, credit limits, and social security numbers, and could be used to get credit card numbers.
- In 2008, Heartland Payment Systems reported that their systems had been hacked. The attack affected around 130 million customers and multiple credit card types. According to ComputerWorld, the company spent around $140 million to deal with the massive breach.
- Equifax recently reported that as many as 400,000 British accounts and 143 million U.S. accounts were compromised in a data breach. The data breach involved names, social security numbers, birthdates, telephone numbers and email addresses. In addition, the hackers stole the credit card numbers of more than 209,000 consumers.
