2.9 Million People Left Exposed After Desjardins Leak
The head office of the Caisse Desjardins de Rimouski Photo: Radio-Canada / François Gagnon
It was announced on Thursday by Guy Cormier – president and CEO of Desjardins Group – that improper access by an employee led to the information over 2.7 million individuals and over 170,000 businesses being leaked.
Though the Quebec-based organization claims that no passwords, security questions, and PINs were compromised, the leak was still substantial.
Names, addresses, birth dates, email addresses, information about banking transaction habits, and social insurance numbers were all part of the leak.
This is an unprecedented leak in terms of the sheer volume of people who have had highly confidential information leaked.
The federation’s CEO described this leak as an act of betrayal and stated that “it’s a situation we deeply regret.”
The data breach was first discovered on June 14 by the Laval Police and it has since become public knowledge.
Though experts cannot yet put a dollar value on the total loss expected, the number are speculated to be astronomical.
Desjardins is currently offering all those effected a 12-month credit monitoring plan – a service that will provide identity theft insurance amongst other things.
The AMF – Quebec’s regulator of financial institutions – described the situation as ‘very serious’ but reassured the public by stating that it is “satisfied with the actions” taken by Desjardins Group as they “have handled the situation with due rigour, transparency, and speed.”
This puts into light just how vulnerable each and every organization is to an attack of this nature. This leak was not perpetrated by a cyber-mastermind crime syndicate; it was one employee who got a-hold of information in an improper manner.
Furthermore, this is a prime example of why a good business insurance is imperative to businesses of any size. Proper coverage on a business insurance policy can safeguard businesses against employees who commit harmful acts such as the one seen at Desjardins.
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