The data included names, addresses and phone numbers of people who applied for its credit card products. The announcement came after the alleged hacker was arrested on July 29, according to BBC. Capital One said the hacker was able to “exploit” a “configuration vulnerability” in the companys infrastructure.
Capital One is a large credit card issuer in the US and operates retail banks. The breach affected approximately 100 million individuals in the US and 6 million people in Canada, according to the official announcement.
The statement added that about 140,000 social security numbers and 80,000 linked bank account numbers were compromised in the US. In Canada, about one million social insurance numbers belonging to Capital One credit card customers were also compromised.
The company will notify those affected and will provide them with free credit monitoring and identity protection.
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