Data breaches

Hackers penetrated the computer network of a Verizon Communications subsidiary, but the company says it plugged the hole before much data was compromised.

Bangladesh's central bank has suggested the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had a "major lapse" in allowing hackers to transfer $101 million in transactions that it later flagged as suspicious, according to an internal document seen by Bloomberg.

Technology at many banks has been assembled haphazardly over years. That makes for complex systems with lots of connections. Those points are prime targets for cybercriminals to find a way in.

American Express has filed a notice with the attorney general in California informing some of its cardholders that their account information may have been compromised.

As the Central Bank of Bangladesh threatens to sue the Federal Reserve Bank of New York over at least $80 million stolen from its account there, the Fed says its systems were not compromised.

The tax agency's struggle to protect sensitive data mirrors banks' own, and its shortcomings can also be found at financial institutions.

Cybercriminals and hackers are increasingly targeting people, and not just technology, in an attempt to breach financial institutions.

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday named Thomas Donilon, the former national security adviser, to chair a special commission to develop a long-term cybersecurity strategy.

Bank of America announced Thursday that it customers can now suspend their debit cards temporarily; it is the first of several new features the bank has planned for 2016 after it tripled its digital banking budget.

Bank regulators will stiffen their requirements and identity theft will escalate, but banks will toughen up their defenses.

Relations between banks and providers of personal financial management tools have soured of late amid reports that some banks block PFM sites' access to their customers' information during peak traffic periods. Aggregators say they are working to address banks' concerns, but they also are urging banks to invest in more server capacity to keep pace with customer demand.

Despite increased investment and development in the consumer payments space around mag stripe, EMV and contactless payments solutions, there is still a huge concern when it comes to data theft.

House Republicans attacked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday, arguing the agency is not able to safely secure the anonymous bulk data it collects on consumers' financial activities.

The House Financial Services Committee approved a data security bill Tuesday that would require all financial companies to have similar security protections and notification requirements as banks.

The debate over whether signatures or PINs are a stronger security feature overlooks the fact that neither is the most important defense against fraud.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, which has advanced far on Capitol Hill, promises to help businesses and government thwart cybercriminal attacks. But privacy advocates say the bill would make misuse of consumer data even easier.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged three men in connection with the mass hack attack on JPMorgan Chase that took place in June 2014.

Buying stolen data is an effective way for banks to determine the source of a breach. But fraudsters are increasingly putting up roadblocks because such deals might make it tougher for them to break in next time.

Led by a team of financial services and regulatory veterans and young techies, Privacy.com represents the first mainstream attempt to build a business explicitly around transactional privacy in the era of Edward Snowden and Ashley Madison.

Hackers did not steal banking or payments data from Experian, but they might as well have. Breaches like the one sustained at the company call into question the entire system of identification that banks rely on to open accounts and conduct other everyday business.