By Morgan Lucy-Speidel, '19
This
past Friday, April 20th, SunTrust Banks Inc. announced that a former employee of the company may have attempted to download and leak information on almost 1.5 million customers to a criminal third party (CNBC).
Client information that is believed to have been leaked only pertains to items such as names, addresses, phones numbers, and “certain account balances” (ZDNet). On the bright-side, information such as social security numbers, account numbers, passwords, or driver’s license numbers are still safe (Washington Post).
SunTrust is currently working alongside third-party cybersecurity experts as well as law enforcement to determine exactly how this occurred and how to prevent it from happening again. The bank also stated that clients will not be responsible for any loss they may experience in their accounts and that they will provide free protection for the time being (CNBC).
An estimated nine million Americans alone experience some form of identity theft every year, making it one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States (IdentityTheftFacts.com). Many believe that identity theft applies to events such as a credit card being stolen and the perpetrator making transactions on it. That is simply credit card fraud but in order for identity theft to take place, someone would have to attempt to impersonate you and take control of your accounts. Identity theft can occur in many places ranging from your doctor’s office or the college your child attends. Many people believe that any place you do business with that requires sensitive information will automatically protect it, however this is a common misconception by many. As with anything else, early detection is your best bet at mitigating the issue and preventing any worse damage taking place (SunTrust.com). The US Senate and other judiciary committees are attempting to create legislation that would help prevent events like this and at other places such as Facebook’s recent mishandling of user information (ZDNet).
Moving forward, even with additional legislation and protection around private data like this, perpetrators and will more than likely still find a way to attain it if they so desire. However, this additional protection will provide peace-of-mind to consumers knowing that it is becoming increasingly difficult for criminals to try and steal their information. Furthermore, companies such as SunTrust will have to do more in regards to how they handle client information. Whether it means restricting who has access to such information or even how much employees have access to, it is crucial that companies like SunTrust or Facebook place strict regulations around it to ensure the safety and well-being of their consumers.
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