The data tape Bank of New York Mellon Corp. lost in February may have had information on nearly three times the people it originally said were affected.
In May, the New York company confirmed the breach after Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal made public a letter to the company criticizing its response to the incident, particularly the compensation it offered to those whose information was exposed.
At the time, the tape was said to hold the data of 4.5 million people. Bank of New York Mellon said Thursday that 8 million additional accounts may have been affected.
The new figure stemmed from an investigation requested in May by Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
"It is simply outrageous that this mountain of information was not better protected, and it is equally outrageous that we are hearing about a possible six million additional individuals and businesses six months after the fact," Gov. Rell said in a press release.
Brian Rogan, Bank of New York Mellon's chief risk officer, said in a separate press release: "We sincerely regret this incident occurred and are fully committed to offering comprehensive fraud protection assistance to all individuals identified in our recent forensic review of the data."
