Revolut suffered an online security nightmare this month as a recent data breach affected 50,000 customers worldwide.
The financial technology company, best known for its banking app of the same name, has seen the personal data of these users exposed. The information that was leaked included details such as names, email addresses, telephone numbers and partial payment card data. This was then followed by phishing attacks that were most likely an attempt to take advantage of the cyber security issue.
Indications of a Cyber Attack
Users of the fintech company’s app reportedly began receiving “inappropriate wording via chat” on the 11th of September, which was the first indication of a data breach. Over the next few days, some Revolut customers were informed via email that their accounts were affected by a cyber attack from “an unauthorized third party”.
In total, 50,150 Revolut users were impacted globally, with just over 20,000 of these being based in Europe, and they have been alerted that their data may have been compromised.
The cyber security breach was announced after Revolut informed Lithuania’s State Data Protection Inspectorate, since the fintech company operates as a registered bank in the country. It claimed that Revolut Bank was hit by a data breach and that access to its stored information was gained through social engineering methods.
What was Revolut’s Response to the Data Breach?
Whilst the online security blunder is sure to attract some negative headlines for the fintech giant, the real damage done to the company and its customers should be minimal. Thankfully, the hackers that accessed the Revolut database were locked out again after just a few hours, significantly limiting the severity of the cyber attack.
Indeed, Revolut themselves claim that the data breach has only affected 0.16% of its total 20 million users worldwide. It should also be noted that it only compromised personal information, rather than finances or online security data. This means that the attacks did not access funds stored on the app, credit card details, passwords, or PINs. The closest to this that was revealed was partial card details, as the rest was “masked” and uncompromised.
Nevertheless, the company has issued an apology for the cyber security attack, and they warned users to be vigilant as some might be at increased risk of fraud. The fact that phishing attacks via SMS started to target all Revolut users just a few days after the data breach emphasises the need for their customers to take care to Remain Secure Online.
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