JPMorgan faces cyber attack with more than 76 Million accounts compromised
The disclosure by the bank dwarfs earlier estimates that hackers had gained access to roughly one million customer accounts.
A cyberattack this summer on JPMorgan Chase compromised the accounts of 76 million households and seven million small businesses, a tally that dwarfs previous estimates by the bank and puts the intrusion among the largest ever.
The details of the breach emerge at a time when consumer confidence in the digital operations of corporate America has already been shaken.
But unlike retailers, JPMorgan, as the largest bank in the nation, has financial information in its computer systems that goes beyond customers’ credit card details and potentially includes more sensitive data.
Operating overseas, the hackers gained access to the names, addresses, phone numbers and emails of JPMorgan account holders. In its regulatory filing on Thursday, JPMorgan said that there was no evidence that account information, including passwords or Social Security numbers, had been taken. The bank also noted that there was no evidence of fraud involving the use of customer information.
Still, until the JPMorgan breach surfaced in July, banks were viewed as relatively safe from online assaults because of their investment in defenses and trained security staff.
In 2011, hackers broke into the systems of the Nasdaq stock market, but did not penetrate the part of the system that handles trades.
Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chairman and chief executive told “We’re making good progress on these and other efforts, but cyberattacks are growing every day in strength and velocity across the globe.”
Faced with the rising threat of online crime, JPMorgan has said it plans to spend $250 million on digital security annually, but had been losing many of its security staff to other banks over the last year, with others expected to leave soon.
Source: NYT- JPMorgan faces cyber attack with more than 76 Million accounts compromised
