PLANO, Texas–Marquis, which provides marketing and compliance solutions to numerous credit unions and other financial institutions, has confirmed that dozens of its clients have had their member/customer data stolen as the result of a cyberattack.
The CU Daily has earlier reported on individual CUs reporting the breach, but the company has now also filed data breach notices with several U.S. states confirming its August 14 incident as a ransomware attack, according to Tech Crunch.
The company counts more than 700 banking and credit union customers on its website.
“At least 400,000 people are so far confirmed affected by the data breach, according to legally required disclosures filed in the states of Iowa, Maine, Texas, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire that TechCrunch has reviewed,” Tech Crunch reported. “Texas has the largest number of state residents so far who had data stolen in the breach, affecting at least 354,000 people.
Maine CU Represents Bulk of Exposed Members
Marquis said in its notice with Maine’s attorney general that members Maine State Credit Union accounted for the majority of its data breach notifications, or around one-in-nine people who are known to be affected throughout the state.”
Tech Crunch added that the number of individuals affected by the breach is expected to rise as more data breach notifications roll in from other states.
“Marquis said the hackers stole customer names, dates of birth, postal addresses, and financial information, such as bank account, debit, and credit card numbers. Marquis said the hackers also stole customers’ Social Security numbers,” Tech Crunch reported. “According to its most recent notices, Marquis blamed the ransomware attack on hackers who exploited a vulnerability in its SonicWall firewall. The vulnerability was considered a zero-day, meaning the flaw was not known to SonicWall or its customers before it was maliciously exploited by hackers.”
Potential Source of Ransomware
Marquis did not attribute the ransomware attack to a particular group, but Tech Crunch reported that the Akira ransomware gang was reportedly behind the mass-hacks targeting SonicWall customers at the time.
