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The US federal authorities on Monday night arrested a computer hacker, nicknamed "erratic", accused of stealing personal information from more than 100 million Capital One credit card applications.
Europol has identified the financial sector as one of the most vulnerable to cyber attacks, especially those that result in data breaches.
Read more: Europe's cyber security deficit threatens infrastructure and elections
What we know about the hack:
- Those affected include 100 million people in the United States and 6 million in Canada.
- The victims were mainly consumers and small businesses.
- Information on credit limits, balances, transaction information and social security numbers has been compromised.
- Capital One discovered the breach on July 19th.
- "Other entities" other than Capital One may have been targeted.
Read more: Germany struggles to boost cyber defense
& # 39; Deeply sorry & # 39;
The US Attorney's Office in Washington said: "The intrusion occurred via a poorly configured web application firewall that allowed access to the data."
According to court documents, the suspect reportedly told another Twitter user: "I basically tied myself up with a bomb-proof vest, dropped the Capital One character and admitted it."
Capital One Chief Executive Officer Richard Fairback said in a statement: "While I am grateful that the author was arrested, I am deeply sorry for what happened. I sincerely apologize for the understandable concern that this incident must cause to those affected and I undertake to remedy it. "
Read more: Cybersecurity: Why it's "hard to protect yourself" online
What do we know about the suspect? She is a former software engineer for a Seattle-based technology company. She shared the data on the website hosting code, GitHub.
What happens next? If the suspect is found guilty, he incurs up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $ 250,000. Capitol One stated that it would provide free credit monitoring and identity protection to those concerned.
Read more: Estonia strengthens cybersecurity with the world's first data embbady
Increasing problem
The data breach in Capital One comes a week after Equifax, an American credit monitoring agency, has agreed to pay up to $ 700 million for a data breach exposing personal information of more than 145 million customers.
Authorities are still debating whether and how companies should be held accountable for data breaches, especially when the personal data of millions of citizens are compromised.
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Author: Lewis Sanders IV (dj)
ls / rt (AP, AFP)
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