JPMorgan Chase's 2015 breach exposed data from 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. The attack also targeted Citigroup, HSBC, E-Trade, and ADP. Robert Siciliano explains what data was compromised and how to protect yourself.
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There's a new crop of villains on Wall Street. They're hard to identify and their motives are unclear, but there's no hiding the fact that they pose a growing threat. In recent months, cybercriminals have targeted numerous financial institutions and they've jeopardized tens of millions of customers, most notably at JPMorgan Chase. 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. Those are the number of accounts impacted by this summer's cyberattack on JPMorgan Chase. The attacks came less than a year after hackers stole data on customers at U.S. retailers like Target and Home Depot.
Whenever a bank is compromised to this degree, it is definitely cause for concern. Banks are supposed to be impenetrable, and when you have this many records being breached in such a short period of time, it's definitely alarming.
The Chase hackers also tried to gain access to data on customers at Citigroup, HSBC, online broker E-Trade, and payroll processing firm ADP, among others. The source of the attacks is unknown. Chase says no money has been stolen, but hackers got the names, phone numbers, home and email addresses of their customers, which makes Chase clients particularly vulnerable to phishing—scammers who pose as legitimate organizations and send emails asking for more information or money. Banks say they will cover losses caused by hackers,. But experts say the best line of defense lies in the hands of consumers.
The best thing to do really is to log into your bank's website, go to the notifications or alerts settings, and get an email or a text message with every single charge or withdrawal that's made every single day of the week.
The data breaches have triggered numerous investigations by the FBI and U.S. federal prosecutors. Experts say if there is one silver lining, it is that banks are going to be more vigilant.
As a result of this particular hack, now the government is paying very close attention to this, and more than likely we're going to see additional security technologies put in place that prevent this happening in the future.
