Citigroup has acknowledged that hackers broke into its network and stole credit-card information related to tens of thousands of customers in North America, according to several reports.
Hackers gained access to Citi’s Account Online Service to view customer names, account numbers and contact information, including email addresses, according to the Financial Times, which first reported it, along with the Associated Press and Reuters.
Citi is contacting customers whose personal data was stolen, though Citi is saying that data did not include birth date, Social Security number, card expiration dates and card security codes. The breach is said to impact about 200,000 bank cardholders in North America.
The attack on Citi is the latest is a growing cybercrime spree this year that has seen hackers breaking into the networks of EMC’s RSA division, Epsilon, Sony and Lockheed Martin, among others, with what’s believed to be various intentions, either stealing customer data for financial purposes or attempted theft of sensitive information and intellectual property with defense purposes.
