JPMorgan Chase has recently been cyber-attacked, and over 76 million households have now been compromised. The hack is one of the largest hacks in the United States, and in addition to the household accounts, up to 7 million small businesses can be added to the list of the victims.
According to officials at JPMorgan Chase, 90 of the company's servers were hacked, but nothing has led investigators to believe that any of the purloined information has been used with malicious intent. Even though customer names, addresses, phone numbers, email address, customer category information, mortgage information, and credit card information is vulnerable, the JPMorgan Chase hack doesn't apply to customer online login information for online accounts or accounts to utilize online banking tools.
When the attack occurred in June and July of this year, it was speculated that only one million accounts had been affected. A regulatory filing by JPMorgan Chase has revealed that the breach was more serious than previously thought.
It hasn't been made known how it is possible to break into JPMorgan customer's accounts, but the FBI continues to investigate as JPMorgan Chase attempts to tighten their security. JPMorgan Chase has formally apologized for the hack, and has stated that their customers will not have to change any passwords or account information. JPMorgan Chase, like any other company that works with secure user information, encourages its customers to change any passwords associated with their consumer accounts.
Customers of JPMorgan Chase should also keep an eye out for anything that could be a scam. Special attention should be given to any phone calls, emails, or mail that claims to be specifically from JPMorgan Chase offering any kind of special deal. The information stolen from JPMorgan Chase could be used by scammers to tap into JPMorgan Chase customers' accounts, but since the company declared the passwords safe, scammers will try to work around that. JPMogran Chase customers must recognize when scammers contact them asking for important personal information like their birthday, Social Security Number, or bank account ID. Scammers might even go on social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter in order to gain access to secure information.
Customers of JPMorgan Chase are also encouraged to check their bank statements regularly, as customers are always at risk of fraud and should be on the lookout for any unexpected charges, no matter how large or small they are. In fact, a popular trick from fraudsters is to charge a small amount on stolen debit or credit card just to see if the rightful user is paying attention.
Banks are always under constant attack, and JPMorgan Chase and other big banks like Wells Fargo are very large targets. Customers of JPMorgan Chase are not encouraged to simply switch banks in response to the current hack. A smaller bank might offer less protection due to the lack of funds required for better security.
