AG: Data breach affected 400,000 Mass. residents

More than 400,00 Massachusetts consumers were affected by a data breach at the Bank of New York Mellon Corp. -- twice as many as originally reported in May, according to a statement released today by state Attorney General Martha Coakley.

Coakley is urging consumers to protect themselves by staying informed of the breach and enrolling in fraud protection services.

“While there has been no indication to date that the data has been misused in any way, our office continues to urge consumers to be vigilant about monitoring their financial statements as they may not be aware that BNY Mellon had their personal information,” Coakley said in a statement.

In May, the bank disclosed that back up-data storage tapes were lost by a third party vendor employed by BNY Mellon Shareowner Services.

At that time, BNY Mellon claimed that the breach affected approximately 200,000 Massachusetts customers, but last month, the bank admitted that the number could be much larger. Investigators suspect personal information, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and bank account information could have been leaked.
(By Jonnelle Marte, Globe correspondent)