At least 1,000 individuals are impacted by the incident

Apr 15, 2015 11:22 GMT  ·  By

Financial services company HSBC Finance Corporation made available online personal information of customers with a mortgage account.

The incident became known to the company on March 27, but the data may have been available to anyone with an Internet connection since late last year.

People in multiple states are affected

Although there are no details on how the leak was possible, HSBC says that it was not the result of a deliberate action and that measures have been taken to strengthen the security protocols in order to avoid such events.

Customers in multiple states are affected, including those in New Hampshire, California, Maine, Massachusetts and Alabama. Notification letters have been sent to all of them.

The total number of individuals affected has not been disclosed, but it is above 1,000, with 685 of the victims residing in New Hampshire. As per the California law, the Attorney General has to receive a breach notice if more than 500 residents are affected.

Free subscription for Identity Guard offered for one year

In the letter to its customers, HSBC informs that the information inadvertently published online included names, social security numbers (SSN), account numbers, and some old data, which may have contained phone numbers.

Immediately after the discovery, the company made sure that the details were no longer publicly accessible and notified law enforcement, as well as credit reporting agencies, about the unfortunate event.

To make sure that its clients benefit from full protection against identity theft and credit fraud, HSBC offers all impacted people a free, one-year subscription to Identity Guard, a credit monitoring and identity protection service.

However, clients should also monitor the bank account statements in the following 12 to 24 months and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement, the FTC, and the bank handling the account.