PORT TOWNSEND — First Federal is sending new debit cards to customers whose data were compromised in recent hacks on retailers.
Bank officials declined to say how many customers were affected.
“With the announcement and investigation into recent payment data system breaches, we have learned that your debit card information was compromised as a result of this data breach,” First Federal officials said in a Nov. 5 letter to affected customers.
“We want to assure you that First Federal was not the source of the information loss.”
Customers are being asked to activate their new debit cards and reset PIN numbers.
Current cards will be deactivated Jan. 5.
Data breaches were reported last month at Staples, Kmart, Home Depot, United Parcel Service, Albertsons and other stores.
The Secret Service estimates that 1,000 U.S. businesses were affected last summer by malware attacks believed to be have originated from Eastern Europe that feed customers’ credit and debit card information to the hackers’ computer servers, The New York Times reported.
First Federal officials said they receive alerts of data breaches from Visa, and the alerts do not always identify the specific merchant.
“Unfortunately, such attacks are an industry-wide problem and often times do not originate from the financial institution, but from a third party vendor/processor,” First Federal Vice President/Marketing Manager Jeanine Lee said in a Friday email.
“In any occurrence of a breach, First Federal takes proactive measures once we have received confirmation of any debit card exposure, with the ultimate goal of protecting our customers from fraudulent activity. This may include issuing new cards.”
Customers were asked in the letter to review their accounts for any unusual activity.
“To help avoid unauthorized account activities, we have advanced fraud monitoring controls on all First Federal debit cards, and we have added additional controls to debit cards that may have been affected directly during a breach,” Lee said.
Customers are provided up-to-date security information and tips on the First Federal website, www.ourfirstfed.com, and frequent posts on the bank’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ourfirstfed, Lee said.
Port Angeles-based First Federal is a state-chartered savings bank with nine full-service branches in Clallam, Jefferson and Kitsap counties and one lending center in Whatcom County.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
