Capital One announced a data breach that impacted 100 million customers.
What We Know:
- Whether it’s social media or personal banking your information is at risk. On Monday, Captial One announced a security breach that compromised the social security numbers, credit scores and transaction data of its customers. Luckily, an arrest was made the same day. Paige Thompson, 33, was arrested Monday for computer fraud.
- According to the FBI, Thompson gained unauthorized access to customer information from a cloud based server. The FBI also said the breach occurred between March 12 and July 17. Richard Fairbank, CEO and Chairman of Capital One released a statement expressing his apologies. “I sincerely apologize for the understandable worry this incident must be causing those affected, and I am committed to making it right,” he said.
- Officially, 100 million people were affected in the U.S and 6 million people in Canada. Out of those people, an estimated 140,000 social security numbers were accessed along with 80,000 bank account numbers. Capital One plans to notify those whose information was breached. They will also receive free credit monitoring and identity protection.
- While the breach is being investigated, customers have been told to freeze their accounts in order to prevent further damages.
Some helpful tips to avoid hackers is to keep a constant eye on your account history, and use unique passwords.
