Firstbank Says Breach Was Related o Merchants Systems Where Account Holders' Debit Cards Were Used.

FIRSTBANK SAYS BREACH WAS RELATED TO MERCHANTS’ SYSTEMS WHERE ACCOUNT HOLDERS’ DEBIT CARDS WERE USED. SO FAR 50 CUSTOMERS’ CARDS COMPROMISED; NUMBER COULD RISE.


VIRGIN ISLANDS -- After a news report on The Consortium this morning revealed what FirstBank has described as an external security breach that prompted the bank to cancel debit cards of affected account holders, the bank’s marketing and communications manager in the Virgin Islands, Alana Alexander, shared more details about the breach, including the number of customers affected, and the nature of the breach.

Ms. Alexander said the breach was not of the bank’s omline systems, but that of a number of merchants throughout the territory and beyond — whose identities she decided not to reveal — where FirstBank account holders made transactions. She said so far about 50 FirstBank account holders have been identified as affected, although the number could rise. Emails were sent to all those affected, Ms. Alexander assured.

“As a result and to mitigate the risk, we canceled the cards and are distributing new cards,” Ms. Alexander said. She said such occurrences have happened in the past, and the bank has taken similar action to mitigate any potential risk of fraud, identity theft and other illicit activities associated with breach of information.

Ms. Alexander said while the number of affected account holders could rise, the bank did not think it was prudent to cancel the debit cards of all account holders, as FirstBank expressed confidence that the matter was under control. She said bank personnel are specifically assigned to monitor the matter, and that an investigation has been launched.

Read more: https://viconsortium.com/news-2/firstbank-says-breach-was-related-to-merchants-systems-where-account-holders-debit-cards-were-used-so-far-50-customers-cards-compromised-number-could-rise/