Banks acted fast when hacker stole data

One bank immediately reissued new credit cards to its customers.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Area banks took swift action to protect customers' assets in the wake of a large-scale data breach at TJX Companies.
TJX announced earlier this month that its computer systems were hacked into late last year. Locally, TJX operates T.J. Maxx stores in Boardman, Niles and Hermitage, Pa.
The hacker broke into the portion of TJX's computer network that handles credit card, debit card, check and merchandise return transactions for customers.
First Place Bank was notified Jan. 18 that some customers' cards had been compromised, said Karen Watson, vice president of bank systems.
Immediately, Watson blocked the credit transaction, or signature-based option of those card numbers, she said. Customers were able to use them as debit cards by using their PIN number.
"It's real important that we protect the assets of the customers that we serve, yet still allow them access to their cash," said Dominique Stoeber, head of retail banking for First Place.
About 1,600 of their customers were potentially affected, Stoeber said.
After blocking signature-based transactions, Watson's team worked late, preparing letters informing each of the 1,600 customers of the possible risk.
The bank's call-center employees also worked overtime to phone each customer, offering them the option of having the credit capabilities of their card turned back on permanently or until they could receive a new card.
"Most customers, though, want it turned off and they're willing to just wait for their new card," Stoeber said.
What Cortland Banks did
Cortland Banks immediately reissued cards to its customers involved, said Chuck Commons, vice president.
"Our policy is to reissue the cards even though the potential for compromise is very slight," he said.
Commons declined to specify the number of Cortland Banks customers potentially involved, but said it wasn't a large figure. Those customers received a new card and a letter explaining the reason they were issued a new one, he said.
Commons, also president of the Mahoning Valley Security Officers Group, a nonprofit organization of the financial institutions in Trumbull and Mahoning counties, said the members of the group discussed the issue.
"Pretty much, each financial institution follows their own policy," he noted. "Everybody is concerned with the privacy issue of their customers, so they're going to do whatever they can to protect their customer's privacy."
Both First Place and Cortland Banks absorbed the cost of reissuing cards to their customers.
Watson said the cost to First Place was 1 per card, plus overtime pay for staff. She didn't have a total cost.
According to a Jan. 17 news release issued by TJX, the Framingham, Mass.-based company has identified some customer information that has been stolen from its systems, but the full extent of the theft is not yet determined.
The theft involves stored information from credit and debit card sales transactions made during 2003 and from mid-May 2006 through December 2006 at stores operated by TJX.