Lost and found to be oh so readable

An offsite storage vendor lost records of more than 400,000 Connecticut customers of People”™s United Financial Inc., as well as customers of two dozen other companies doing business in the state including John Hancock Financial Services, Walt Disney Co. and TD Banknorth Financial Group.

In late February, a storage company contracted by Bank of New York Mellon Corp. lost an unencrypted backup computer tape containing personal financial information, including Social Security numbers, names, addresses and some bank account data. Bank of New York Mellon indicated it is now conducting a top-to-bottom review of its security policies, particularly those related to outside vendors that might handle customer information.

Recent data breaches involving Connecticut companies have involved encrypted information, which is difficult to access without specialized knowledge. The fact that the Bank of New York Mellon tapes were unencrypted increases the possibility of any misuse of the information.

People”™s United provided depositor information in encrypted form to Bank of New York Mellon as part of its conversion from mutual to stock ownership, with the latter company transferring the data in unencrypted form to the relevant tapes.

A small number of customers of Stamford-based OdysseyRe Holdings Corp. were also affected.

Bank of New York Mellon agreed to provide free identity theft protection service for 500,000 potential Connecticut victims ”“ equal to one in every eight-and-a-half residents in the state ”“ along with 4 million more in other states. The free services include:

 

Ӣ daily credit monitoring for two years, providing consumers with an early warning of any changes to their credit files;

Ӣ alerts of key changes to credit files that might indicate potential fraudulent activity;

”¢ monthly “no hit” alerts;

Ӣ $25,000 in identity-theft insurance through Virginia Surety Co. Inc., with no deductible;

Ӣ fraud-resolution representatives for any potential victims;

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Ӣ free credit freezes that prohibit wrongdoers from obtaining a loan or credit;

Ӣ a dedicated incident Web site at www.bnymellon.com/tapequery;

Ӣ toll-free hotlines to field inquiries at (877) 278-3451 and (877) 278-3461.

 

As of late May, there had been no reports of identity theft stemming from the incident, according to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

“We have demanded Bank of New York Mellon give a complete, comprehensive account of this data breach,” Blumenthal said, in a written statement. “The bank must explain to consumers how it lost their information, why it took so long to inform them and law enforcement and how it will prevent future data breaches.”