Bank customers file lawsuit over security breach
HARTFORD, Conn. --Several customers of
The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, was filed in New Haven Superior Court Friday against both Peoples and the Bank of New York Mellon.
The Bank of New York Mellon has told Connecticut officials that a box with back up bank tapes was lost in February from a truck that transports and stores tapes in its storage facility.
The tapes contained Social Security numbers, names and addresses and possibly bank account numbers and balances of about 4.5 million people.
Connecticut state law requires banks to immediately notify customers when such information is lost. Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell says the Bank of New York Mellon did not quickly notify
Attorney Mike Stratton, who represents those suing the banks, said his clients are seeking extended credit monitoring, credit insurance and punitive damages.
"Identity thieves are pretty patient and will wait years to use someone's information," Stratton said. "The aftershocks could go out a long way here."
The banks have offered customers one year of credit monitoring, which Stratton called inadequate. He said the banks failed to make sure all its customer information was encrypted.
Meanwhile, Rell on Friday told Consumer Protection Commissioner Jerry Farrell Jr. to add subpoenas to Webster Bank and
The state wants to know the extent of the data breach, copies of any law enforcement or security reports filed following the loss and the names and addresses of affected Connecticut customers, Rell said.
People's has acknowledged sharing its customers' information with the New York bank.
Officials at Webster and Wachovia said Friday they have been informed that none of their customers were affected by the breach.
Christy Phillips-Brown, a spokeswoman for Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia, said Bank of New York Mellon is a vendor that handles an unspecified employee benefit for Wachovia employees and Bank of New York Mellon had data from a "small percentage" of Wachovia's 120,000 employees on the missing bank tape. The affected employees were notified this week, she said.
Ed Steadham of Webster Bank said that no information about Webster customers or shareholders was on the missing tape.
Issuing a subpoena is the first step in determining whether laws may have been broken.
"I am gravely concerned by the unacceptable delay between the loss of this information and the notification to the affected consumers," Rell said in a statement. "The possibility that customers of additional banks are affected only adds to the problem. The data that has been compromised is, unfortunately, exactly the information identity thieves need most."
Ron Sommer, a spokesman for the Bank of New York Mellon in Pittsburgh, said the bank could not comment on the subpoena because it has not received one.
On Wednesday, he said bank officials are cooperating with an investigation by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. He said there has been no indication that any of the lost data has been misused.
Brent DiGiorgio, a spokesman for People's Bank, said Wednesday that People's Bank gave information about its customers to the Bank of New York in 2007 when it converted from a depositor-owned bank to a publicly owned stock company. The Bank of New York tabulated votes on the changeover and processed stock order requests, he said. 