76 million households, 7 million businesses affected by JP Morgan Chase cyberattack
The cyberattack against JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s computer servers this summer add to increasing doubts over the security of consumer data kept by lenders, retailers and even government agencies.
Thursday, the bank detailed the breach that compromised customer information on 76 million consumer homes and 7 million “small businesses.” Names, addresses, phone mumbers and email addresses were stolen from clients who used Chase.com and JPMorganOnline and the apps ChaseMobile and JPMorgan Mobile.
Photo: MoD/MOD
While the cyberattack was intense, the bank stated that there was no evidence that the data breach included account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers or dates of birth. It also noted that it has not seen any unusual customer fraud stemming from the data breach.
The server breach follows data thefts that have hit financial firms and major retailers this year, adding to consumer concerns over the risk of identity theft and fraud.
The Chase attack is even more disturbing than the recent retail breaches because banks are supposed to have fortress-like protection against intruders, said Gartner security analyst Avivah Litan.
“This is really a slap in the face of the American financial services system,” Litan said. “Honestly, this is a crisis point.”
JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s biggest bank by assets, has been working with law enforcement officials to investigate the cyberattack.
The bank discovered the intrusion on its servers in mid-August and has since determined that the breach began as early as June, spokeswoman Patricia Wexler said.
“We have identified and closed the known access paths,” she said, declining to elaborate.
She also declined to comment on whether JPMorgan has been able to determine who was behind the cyberattack on its servers.
In response to the data breach, the company has disabled compromised accounts and reset passwords of all its technology employees, Wexler said.
[…] the past few months we have seen some very high profile cases in which large organizations had information stolen from their computer system. This has placed a […]
[…] households, 7 million firmsLos Angeles TimesWall Street Journal (blog) -CBS Local -The Global Dispatchall 598 news […]
[…] Data breach affects 76 million households, 7 million firmsLos Angeles TimesCBS Local -The Global Dispatchall 594 news […]