US debt collection agency Financial Business and Consumer Solutions said it experienced a significant data security incident that compromised the sensitive personal information of more than 2.5 million individuals.
With offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Florida, Financial Business and Consumer Solutions (FBCS) specialises in collection of debts from consumer credit, healthcare, commercial, auto loans and more.
In a filing with the Office of the Maine Attorney General, FBCS said that on February 26, it identified unauthorised access to its internal network and immediately launched an internal investigation, with assistance from external cyber security experts, to determine the nature and scope of the incident.
“The investigation determined that the environment was subject to unauthorised access between February 14 and February 26, 2024, and the unauthorised actor had the ability to view or acquire certain information on the FBCS network during the period of access,” reads the notice.
The compromised data includes names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, non-driver identification card numbers and account information.
Initially FBCS revealed that 1,955,385 individuals were impacted by the incident, however, in a recent filing with the Maine state regulator, the company said that it has identified at least 2,679,555 individuals affected by the same.
“Upon discovering this incident, we immediately took steps to conduct a diligent investigation to confirm the nature and scope of the incident. As part of FBCS’s ongoing commitment to the security of information on our platform, we also implemented additional safeguards in a newly built environment,” FBCS added.
While the collection agency found no evidence of the compromised information being misused, it advised all affected individuals to regularly monitor their credit reports, account and benefit statements and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement authorities, including the police and state attorney general.
It has also offered one year of complimentary identity protection and credit monitoring services through CyEx to all affected individuals.
