Data breach in Capital One: arrest after hijacking information on 100 million people stolen in the United States

Personal data of about 106 million people in the United States and Canada have been stolen in a hacking attack on Capital One systems, the company said.

The announcement took place after the arrest of the alleged pirate on Monday.

According to Capital One, the data included the names, addresses and telephone numbers of people who requested credit card products.

But the hacker did not have access to the credit card account numbers, he said.

Capital One said in a statement on Monday that the offense had affected about 100 million people in the United States and 6 million in Canada.

The statement adds that nearly 140,000 social security numbers and 80,000 linked bank account numbers have been compromised in the United States.

In Canada, about one million Social Insurance numbers belonging to Capital One credit card issuers have also been compromised.

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The hack was identified on July 19th.

Capital One said the hacker could "exploit" a "configuration vulnerability" in the company's infrastructure.

They added that it was unlikely that the information was used for fraudulent purposes, but that they would continue to investigate the violation.

The hacker was able to obtain personal information from credit card applicants, including scores, limits, balances, payment history and contact information.

Richard D. Fairbank, president and CEO of the company, said in a statement: "Although I am grateful that the author was arrested, I deeply regret what happened.

"I sincerely apologize for the understandable concern that this incident must cause to those affected and I undertake to remedy it."

Capital One will inform the individuals concerned and provide them with free credit monitoring and identity protection.