Global banking giant UniCredit hit by another massive data breach

The major Italian bank UniCredit has reported yet another data breach affecting its customer base, adding to what has been a devastating year for cybercrimes. As reported by Reuters, this marks the third data breach in recent years for what is considered to be the largest bank in Italy. The breach first became public knowledge when the bank released a public statement warning of the breach that reads as follows:

The UniCredit cyber security team has identified a data incident involving a file generated in 2015 containing a defined set of approximately 3 million records limited to the Italian perimeter. The records consist of names, city, telephone number and email only. Consequently no other personal data or any bank details permitting access to customer accounts or allowing for unauthorized transactions have been compromised. UniCredit immediately launched an internal investigation and has informed all the relevant authorities, including the police. The bank is contacting all potentially affected persons exclusively by post and / or online banking notifications. For any concerns, customers can contact the UniCredit customer services’ team or call toll free 800 323285.

This breach comes in spite of the bank’s claims later in the statement that they invested roughly €2.4 billion to bolster their defenses. The investment came after the second most recent breach in 2016 that affected around 400,000 customers of UniCredit. One has to wonder just what exactly the billions of euros were spent on since this newest breach is astronomical in comparison to 2016’s incident. Whatever cybersecurity strategy UniCredit employed in the wake of its last data breach clearly did not have any tangible results.

When Reuters requested further comment from the bank on the nature of the breach, a spokesperson from UniCredit refused to give any more information. They did, however, state that there is no relationship between the 2019 breach and the 2016 breach. Since the investigation is still ongoing it is likely that more information will materialize as time goes on.

At this point, customers of the bank should contact UniCredit immediately and take steps to protect themselves as much as possible.

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