We Could Get Hacked: Cyber Disclaimers in Bank SEC Filings
Published October 16, 2014 2:34 PM
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Updated October 16, 2014 3:29 PM
1 Min Read
From JPMorgan Chase to Dairy Queen, several large corporations have disclosed data security breaches in recent weeks, underscoring that cyberattacks are now a major risk facing businesses of all kinds. The digital library Cryptome recently did a search for "hacker" in the Securities and Exchange Commission's database and found more than 8,000 companies have included the word in their filings. Nearly all of these were risk disclaimers (barring the odd reference to someone with the surname Hacker). Here's a sampling of how financial institutions of varying sizes and types have warned investors about the possibility of data breaches, culled from the first 2,000 search results.
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Peer-to-Peer Peril
"If a 'hacker' were able to infiltrate the platform, you would be subject to the increased risk of fraud or borrower identity theft and may experience losses on, or delays in the recoupment of amounts owed on, a fraudulently induced purchase of a Note. Additionally, if a hacker were able to access
secure files, he or she might be able to gain access to your personal information ." Prosper Funding
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New Vulnerabilities
"Information security risks for financial institutions like us have increased recently in part because of new technologies, the use of the Internet and telecommunications technologies (including mobile devices ) to conduct financial and other business transactions and the increased sophistication and activities of organized crime, perpetrators of fraud, hackers, terrorists and others. In addition to cyber-attacks or other security breaches involving the theft of sensitive and confidential information, hackers recently have engaged in attacks against large financial institutions, particularly denial of service attacks, that are designed to disrupt key business services, such as customer-facing web sites." Alliance Data Systems
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But It's Still Triple-A
"Terrorists, activists or hackers may also attack these facilities or systems, leading to service interruptions, increased costs or data security compromises ." American Express Credit Card Master Trust (a securitization vehicle)
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Moving Target
"We may not have the resources or technical sophistication to anticipate and prevent rapidly evolving types of cyber attacks ." River Valley Bancorp, Madison, Ind.
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Uncertain Times
"Although we, with the help of third-party service providers, intend to continue to implement security technology
there can be no assurance that these security measures will be successful ." Simplicity Bancorp, Covina, Calif.
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Moving Target
"We are not able to anticipate or implement effective preventive measures against all security breaches of these types, especially because the techniques used change frequently." Great Western Bancorp, Sioux Falls, S.D.
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Threats Abound
"Despite the defensive measures [the bank] takes to manage its internal technological and operational infrastructure, these threats may originate externally from third parties, such as foreign governments, organized crime and other hackers , and outsource or infrastructure-support providers and application developers, or the threats may originate from within [the] organization." Community Bank Shares of Indiana, New Albany, Ind.
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Costly Cleanup
"It is possible that a significant amount of time and money may be spent to rectify the harm caused by a breach or hack." Meridian Bancorp, Peabody, Mass.
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Known Unknowns
"The computer systems and network infrastructure we use, including the systems and infrastructure of our third-party service providers, could be vulnerable to unforeseen problems ." Veritex Holdings, Dallas, Texas
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The Beat Goes On
"Our facilities and systems, and those of our partners and third-party service providers, are vulnerable to external or internal security breaches, acts of vandalism, computer viruses, misplaced or lost data, programming or human errors, or other similar events. We and our partners and third-party service providers have experienced all of these events in the past and expect to continue to experience them in the future ." Synchrony Financial, Stamford, Conn.
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