Massive data breach at Desjardins
Published on: Saturday, June 22, 2019
By: AFP
MONTREAL: Canada’s Desjardins credit union announced Thursday that the personal banking information of 2.9 million customers had been stolen by an employee and distributed to outside parties.The nation’s largest credit union and fifth-largest in the world, with Can$304 billion (US$230 billion) in assets under its management, had noted unauthorised access to its members’ information last December, but it was only confirmed by police last Friday.
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In a statement it said police confirmed to the credit union that the personal information of 2.9 million members “had been shared with individuals outside the organisation. This includes 2.7 million individual members and 173,000 business members.”
This included names, date of birth, contact information and banking habits.
Passwords and other security information were not compromised.
The employee responsible for the breach has since been fired, and Desjardins has put in place additional security measures, Desjardins Group Senior Vice President Denis Berthiaume told a press conference.
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He said the credit union would offer free credit monitoring to affected members, while promising to refund any losses in the event of fraud related to the breach.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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“This major incident affecting Desjardins Group today puts into perspective the omnipresent risk that now weighs on all organizations in terms of information security risks,” Quebec’s financial sector regulator said in a statement. – AFP
