Hacker Gains Access to More Than 100 Million Credit Card Records
Yet again, there is news of another enormous data breach. This latest breach is the largest data attack on a bank ever and one of the biggest data breaches of any kind. It exposed the data of 100 million U.S. and 6 million Canadian credit card customers of Capital One.
People who have Capital One credit cards and those who just applied for them were affected. The breached records were credit card applications going back as far as 2005. While Capital One says that the hacker did not gain access to credit card numbers or passwords, the bank does admit that the hacked information included names, addresses, emails, birthdates, and self-reported income.
In addition, the hacker obtained 140,000 Social Security numbers and 1 million Canadian Social Insurance numbers along with 80,000 bank account numbers.
Hacker Bragged About the Theft
Some of the previous large data breaches, like those that targeted Equifax and Marriott, were carried out by sophisticated professional hackers, most likely backed by the resources of a nation-state's intelligence service. The Capital One breach, however, was the work of one individual, apparently working alone, who was able to find and exploit a single vulnerability in their system.
The alleged hacker is a 33-year-old woman from Seattle - a software engineer who used to work for Amazon Web Services, the hosting service where Capital One stored its data. The thief gained access to Capital One's server through misconfigured firewall settings on a web application.
The thief gave herself away by bragging online about her exploits. In one case, she used her full name, and in another, she used a screen name that she had used elsewhere. Someone who saw her public admissions contacted Capital One, who in turn contacted the FBI.
And this may not be the end of the story. Some experts believe that the thief may have broken into the sites of other companies, not just Capital One.
Identity Protection Provides Peace of Mind
This is not going to be the last huge data breach that we hear about. In fact, breaches have become so common that experts say you should just assume that your data has already been accessed and take defensive action now.
This is a problem that affects everyone. Customers are searching for peace of mind, and are increasingly turning to credit monitoring and identity theft solutions. Companies that offer these valuable service stand to increase the loyalty of their customer base. These services don’t just exist in the domain of the credit bureaus and ID Protection providers – companies across a range of verticals now have options around providing these services both directly and indirectly. In particular, the growth of private label solutions has created entire new revenue streams while building brand loyalty and protecting the customer.
Enfortra White Label Monitoring Adds Value to Your Company
Enfortra provides a powerful suite of white label identity protection products and services. You can provide these valuable solutions for your customers, clients, members, and/or employees under your own brand name.
You can customize every aspect of this white label Identity Theft and Credit Monitoring solution. You select the option you want to offer, including identity theft monitoring, credit monitoring, monitoring the dark web, calculating a vulnerability score using a proprietary model, sending customized alerts, restoration and recovery, and much more. Enfortra sets it up, and all you have to do is direct your customers to a dedicated landing page where they can register for the service. By providing peace of mind to your clients and employees, you gain their loyalty and enhance the image and power of your brand.
Data theft is a huge problem that seems like it's only getting worse. Enfortra gives you an opportunity to be part of the solution while adding value to your company. Contact Enfortra today for a free demo.