Patelco Credit Union, a major player in the US financial sector with assets over $9 billion, recently disclosed it faced a ransomware attack that prompted the shutdown of several customer-facing banking systems to mitigate the incident’s impact. If you are a customer of Patelco, it is important to stay vigilant and informed about the latest developments. Here what you need to know:
When Did the Attack Happen?
In a recent update, Patelco revealed the service outages that began on June 29 were due to a ransomware attack that occurred on the same day. “On June 29, 2024, Patelco Credit Union experienced a ransomware attack,” the credit union reported. The incident forced Patelco to temporarily shut down some of their day-to-day banking systems to manage the issue effectively.
Which Services are Impacted?
Patelco has reported several disruptions in their services. Online banking, mobile app, and call center services are currently offline. Electronic transactions, including transfers, direct deposits, balance inquiries, and payments, are also not available.
Debit and credit card transactions are functioning but with limited capacity. The organization says that cash withdrawals remain available through its ATMs and those of shared branches, which remain unaffected by the remediation efforts.
Response and Recovery Efforts
Patelco has brought in third-party cybersecurity experts to investigate the incident and speed up recovery efforts, but there is no clear timeline yet for when things will be back to normal. The company expects delays in customer service and apologizes for the inconvenience, asking customers to be patient as their teams work tirelessly to restore services.
So far, no ransomware groups have taken responsibility for the attack, leaving the culprits unknown. Ransomware attacks often involve data theft for extortion, potentially putting the sensitive personal and financial information of Patelco’s hundreds of thousands of customers at risk.
The company has not commented on whether customer data has been exposed, likely because the investigation is still in its early stages. As a precaution, Patelco customers should be extra cautious with unsolicited communications asking for personal information and keep a close eye on their account activity.
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Anas Hasan
July 3, 2024
3 days ago
