Cyber incident affects 100 million US Capital One customers

The firm says 1 million social security numbers were among the data compromised

Cyber incident affects 100 million US Capital One customers

Capital One has apologized to customers whose data may have been compromised by a cyber incident.

The firm says it happened on July 19 and affected 100 million customers in the US and 6 million in Canada who had applied for its credit card products or who already had a credit card account with the firm.

So far, its investigations lead it to believe that there has been no fraudulent use of the data, but it will continue to monitor the situation.

The person responsible for the cyber incident has been arrested by the FBI.

The data that has been accessed includes social security numbers, credit scores, credit limits, balances, payment history, and contact information.

Partial transaction data was also accessed.

Capital One says that it will make free credit monitoring and identity theft insurance available to everyone affected; those customers will be contacted through several channels.

“While I am grateful that the perpetrator has been caught, I am deeply sorry for what has happened,” said Richard D. Fairbank, Founder, Chairman and CEO. “I sincerely apologize for the understandable worry this incident must be causing those affected and I am committed to making it right.”