Priority One CU Apologizes For Data Breach

PASADENA, Calif. – Priority One CU was caught in an embarrassing admission last week after it mailed ballots for elections to the board with each member’s account number and Social Security number printed on the outside of the envelope. The $175 million credit union was forced to apologize to its members and enact new security procedures to ensure the information is not used by identity thieves and urged members to closely monitor their accounts. In a letter to its 27,000 members, Charles Wiggington, president of Priority One, said the printing of the personal information was inadvertent and was not “printed in a format that would be immediately recognizable.” The credit union has responded to the accidental breach by putting new processes into effect to validate identities before any transactions are processed, and is providing free credit monitoring services to all members for one year. Members are also invited to change their account numbers as an extra precaution. Members are urged to carefully monitor their account statements and to place a security alert on their credit bureau files.