Another Security Breach: Hackers Access Citi Credit Card Personal Data

Citigroup announced on Thursday that it has discovered a hacker accessed personal information from its customers. The bank said the security breach occurred last month during which time the hacker stole the information belonging to roughly 200,000 customers.

Routine Monitoring Revealed the Breach

The company said in a prepared statement that the breach was discovered recently during routine monitoring. Stolen information included names, account numbers and contact information, including e-mail addresses.

The bank claims customers’ Social Security numbers, card expiration dates, dates of birth and card security codes “were not compromised.”

Overall, roughly 1 percent, or 200,000, of its 21 million bankcard accounts in North America were viewed. The bank is in the process of contacting customers that have been affected. Also, it has “implemented enhanced procedures to prevent a recurrence of this type of event.”

Protecting Yourself in a Security Breach

Unfortunately, the risk we run when entrusting our personal information to third parties like Citigroup is the possibility of having it land in the hands of hackers. Similar security breaches have occurred in recent months with Sony and multiple companies in an Epsilon data breach.

Choosing a company that touts strong security is one way to increase your chances of having your data secured–but of course, this isn’t foolproof. So the next step is to prepare yourself for a possible attack by doing the following:

• Change your passwords/security questions: If someone may have accessed your personal information, it’s good to get into the affected accounts and change your passwords and security information.
• Close your accounts: Depending on the severity of the breach and what information could be compromised as a result, you may want to consider closing your affected accounts.
• Beware of phishing: When checking your e-mails, look out for phishing scams (scams where thieves try to “fish” personal information from you by pretending to be a company or person you trust.)

Identity theft is more of a problem than it has been in years and security breaches that are out of your control definitely don’t aid the problem. So take as many steps as possible to protect yourself from the dangers you face when living in an online world.