About 18,000 members of California-based Stanford Federal Credit Union are being notified that a staffer inadvertently included their personal information in an email that was sent to another member.
How many victims? About 18,000, according to reports.
What type of personal information? Names, addresses, member numbers, tax identification numbers, loan offers and credit information.
What happened? A Stanford Federal Credit Union employee inadvertently included the personal information in an email sent to a member.
What was the response? The error was discovered within minutes, and the data was destroyed before being viewed. Stanford Federal Credit Union is installing additional software systems and instituting new operational protocols to ensure a similar incident does not occur again. All impacted individuals are being notified and offered a free year of identity theft protection services.
Details: The email was sent on April 30.
Quote: “While we are confident this information was never seen by unauthorized individuals and you are not at risk, we feel it is important to communicate with our members in any situation involving their information or accounts,” Joan Opp, CEO of Stanford Federal Credit Union, said in a notification. “I also want to emphasize that our electronic systems were in no way compromised and your accounts remain secure.”
Source: oag.ca.gov, “Letter sent to some members about email issue,” June 9, 2014.
