Vystar Credit Union has notified some of its members of a third-party breach of personal data.
Judy Walz, SVP of marketing and planning, told The Credit Union Journal that it was credit union staff who discovered the incident.
"It was a crime against Vystar and we found it internally," Walz confirmed.
Walz declined to disclose the way in which the data breach was discovered, as the FBI is continuing with a criminal investigation. Walz said less than 10% of its membership was affected and that the incident involved a file containing personal information not related to Internet banking.
"It was a small percentage and now all our (affected) members have been notified," she said.
Vystar informed its affected members that a criminal gained access to personal information such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates, mothers' maiden names and e-mail addresses. Vystar officials said no account numbers, balances, PIN numbers, passwords, login identifications, no debit, credit or ATM card numbers of any kind were compromised, officials said.
"At this point we haven't seen any fraudulent activity and we've been watching very closely," Walz said.
Walz said Vystar CU contacted only members affected by the data compromise via a special mailing, detailing the incident and how they might be affected. Walz said affected members will be given free use of Identity Theft 911 credit monitoring services for the next several months. Walz said the letter included contact telephone numbers for credit bureaus and the Federal Trade Commission. Members were also given a special phone number at Vystar to call for further information.
Vystar Credit Union was founded in 1952 to serve civil servants, military personnel and their families at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. Today, Vystar serves 344,331 members 15 counties in northeast Florida and has $3.1 billion in assets.
