CAPITAL ONE HACKED - HOW TO TELL IF IT AFFECTS YOU

On Monday July 29, 2019, Capital One Financial announced that they discovered on July 19, 2019 they had been hacked. But the day of the hack was not July 19, 2019.

The information was breached over two days, March 22 and 23, 2019 by Paige Thompson, a 33-year-old female financial analyst who has been arrested by the FBI for computer fraud and abuse. 

Those were the days she hacked them but the information that was revealed were from dates long before that.

The dates she accessed and offered for sale on the Dark Web were 23 random days during 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Although Capital One performs routine audits and security checks, this hack was not caught then.  

The hack was only caught after someone reported to them that Ms. Thompson offered the hacked information for sale on the Dark Web. 

Capital One DOES have insurance but there will be out of pocket expenses.

WHAT WAS HACKED?

She revealed 

names, addresses, details of "linked bank accounts," social security numbers, and passwords and PINs of credit card and savings accounts. 

Although Capital One says the hack also revealed 

the details of "only" 140,000 credit card accounts and 80,000 linked bank accounts of United States customers and the social insurance details of Canadian customers. 

However, the trickle down theory is in place, so Capital One said this event ultimately affected over 100 million customers in the United States and over 6 million in Canada.

This hack is going to hurt Capital One in more ways than one because of the many products they offer.

The hacker also exposed

 personal information that Capital One collects on new card applications, including names, addresses, zip codes, phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth and self-reported income. 

For those 23 random days during 2016, 2017 and 2018, the hacker revealed 

credit scores, credit limits, account balances, payment history, and fragments of transactions data from those dates.

Capital One said 

"the largest category of jeopardized data was information on consumers and small businesses as of the time they applied for credit card products from 2005 through early 2019."

Capital One does carry insurance for this sort of thing, but the coverage is very conservative considering recent hacks that have been reported by other institutions. Capital One's coverage has a $10 million deductible and a coverage limit of $400 million.  Hacks at other companies have exceeded $400 million.

If you are offered free credit monitoring and identity protection, then the hack affected You.

You are well advised to change your PASSWORD and your PIN to all your Capital One accounts AND to you linked bank accounts.

Capital One said it doesn't believe the information was used for fraud.  

That is an amazing statement!  You can believe what you want to believe regarding how Capital One said the hacked information was "going to be used."   

The fact remains that if it was being offered for sale on the Dark Web, then it was being used for fraud.  Her FBI arrest warrant states she was arrested for computer fraud and abuse.  You can connect the dots.

Take some precautions on your own.  

• Keep alert for new charges on your statements
• Sign up with Capital One for them to send you alerts for new purchases.  
• Don't answer any emails or phone calls that look like they came from Capital One - YOU call them directly using the phone number on the back of your credit card.
• Don't click on any links you get in emails.

IMPORTANT:
Capital One will NOT be calling or emailing customers to notify them they were affected in the breach. 

They will NOT be calling customers to ask them to verify their credit card information or Social Security numbers.

So if you get a phone call like that, it is NOT them. Hang up!  

If you note the phone number they called you from and any identifying information from the call, you can report it to Capital One by calling the phone number on the back of your credit card.

If it is too late and you already opened emails in your INBOX or SPAM, DO NOT believe any emails stating they are from Capital One, especially if they say you were part of the hack and need you to VERIFY any information.   

Forward those emails to:

abuse@capitalone.com  


Then delete the emails and make sure they are not in your contacts.

Capital One set up this website to answer any questions about this event.

Check out our post about Facebook's $5million fine here.

https://2geekgirls1nerdyguy.blogspot.com/2019/07/facebook-fined-record-five-billion.html

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