ARDEN HILLS, Minn.–Catholic United Financial here is reporting a data breach.
In a letter to members, the provider of insurance and wealth management services, said an estimated 127,000 current and former members are affected as are 7,356 deceased members.
It is not believed hackers penetrated the computer at Catholic United Financial Credit Union, an affiliated organization based in St. Paul, Minn., with $16.6-million in assets and 3,400 members.
According to the company, the hacker or hackers were able to access members’ first and last names, mailing addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, insurance policy information, and Social Security numbers of members. Beneficiary information, log-in credentials and other information were not accessed, the credit union said.
“I want you to know that we take our responsibilities as your financial partner extremely seriously, and our response to this incident will demonstrate (that) to our members,” Harald Borrmann, chairman and president of Catholic United Financial, said in an Oct. 4 notice to members, according to the Pioneer Press.
The nonprofit Catholic United Financial, which offers insurance, investment and other services, currently serves 84,000 members in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Borrmann said Catholic United Financial worked quickly to notify members.
“On September 6, 2017, Catholic United Financial became suspicious that there may have been an attack on its web server resulting in possible unauthorized access to its members’ personally identifiable information,” Borrmann said in a written statement Monday. “That same day, Catholic United Financial hired outside forensic investigators to assess the situation and determine whether such a breach had occurred. Simultaneously, Catholic United Financial removed all potential access to personally identifiable information on its web server and secured the web server from any possible further attack.”