JP Morgan Chase, one of USA’s largest banks, has disclosed the scope of the massive data breach that the firm had suffered between June and August this year, in an SEC filing Thursday afternoon.
As per the filing, data from 76 million households and 7 million small businesses was compromised in the mid August attack. The data theft includes names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of customers. However, the bank reported that only customers using the websites Chase.com and JPMorganOnline or ChaseMobile and JPMorgan Mobile apps were affected.
“There is no evidence that account information for such affected customers — account numbers, passwords, user IDs, dates of birth or Social Security numbers — was compromised during this attack,” the company said in the SEC filing.
The firm has stated that the customer “money at JPMorgan Chase is safe” and that there has been no indication of unusual or fraudulent activity lately, that might track back to the breach. Customers are not responsible for any unauthorized activity in their accounts, the bank said.
The ever increasing frequency of cyber attacks that has plagued financial institutions and retailers this year is cause for concern and more so for the bank breach, points out 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.”
Millions of customers have been affected in similar cyberattacks at retailers like Target, Home Depot and Supervalu and online retailer Ebay. Bloomberg has published an infographic listing out data hacks according to the affected populace.
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(Image credit: Sarath Kuchi)
