ForHacSec

Citigroup has admitted that hackers could have grabbed thousands of account details for its credit card customers.

The breach hit Citi Account Online systems and information potentially accessed was limited to names, email addresses and account numbers. Birth dates, PINs and other sensitive information is held elsewhere the bank said.

The bank has contacted police and tightened fraud procedures, according to the FT which first publicly revealed that the break-in had taken place.

Citibank said about one per cent of its 21m card holders in the US could have had their data compromised. The security hole was found during routine checking in early May.

The bank told the paper that only credit card customers were hit, but several customers told the paper they’d had debit card transactions stopped. Citi said it was contacting affected customers but would not confirm whether any had seen dodgy transactions on their cards.

We’ve contacted Citi for more details but have yet to hear back.

Citibank said: “During routine monitoring, we recently discovered unauthorized access to Citi’s Account Online. A limited number – roughly one percent – of Citi bankcard customers’ account information (such as name, account number and contact information including email address) was viewed. The customer’s social security number, date of birth, card expiration date and card security code (CVV) were not compromised. We are contacting customers whose information was impacted. Citi has implemented enhanced procedures to prevent a recurrence of this type of event. For the security of these customers, we are not disclosing further details.”