Flagstar Bank's Latest Data Breach

Well, here we go again! For the second time in approximately a year and a half, Flagstar Bank has notified me that ALL my personal information including first and last names, email, phone number, home address and Social Security number has been stolen. I can find no news stories about this latest breach which affected over 1,500,000 customers of theirs according to the letter I received from them last week.

Once again they have offered 2 years of free credit monitoring services through Kroll. Big deal! The criminals know this and will use the stolen information after that time period expires. At the time of this latest breach, I am not even a customer of theirs anymore. I closed every account when the first breach occurred but they have kept all my information and it was stolen again. In the first breach, there was someone who complained that they hadn't been a customer in over 10 years, yet all their critical personal information was stolen from Flagstar Bank. Also, people whose mortgages were sold to Flagstar had theirs stolen when it wasn't even their choice to be with Flagstar Bank.

After the first breach, I placed security freezes and fraud alerts on all 3 credit reports and have always monitored all my finances, banks and credit cards daily. Unfortunately, there are other things criminals can do with this information. They can file taxes in my name, apply for health insurances, etc. etc.

Needless to say, I am angry, upset and aggravated that a bank doesn't keep this information secure. In the first breach, the information was stolen from Accellion, a vendor they used to store their customers most important information. The file sharing program was 20 YEARS OLD!! How long is that in computer years?? This shows how much Flagstar Bank cares about their customers. And even after that first breach, they left everything within their own system vulnerable to theft.

I'm a single senior lady - criminals now have my address and name so it's a personal safety issue. Who will knock on my door next? [[I never respond to a knock or the doorbell. Friends know to text or call me first.) These are scary times we are living in when honest people have to be afraid in their own homes, on-line and out in public. I'm on no social media at all so that gives me a little protection according to security experts.

I'm posting this information here because I can't find a single article in the Free Press or the Detroit News, as there was for the first breach and I want to spread this news. So beware!

Flagstar is a Michigan based bank, and according to their website locations list, they have 5 branches in Detroit, so I'm posting this in the Discuss Detroit section. Lowell, you can move it if you feel that's necessary. Thanks!

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Originally Posted by Kelton

For the second time in approximately a year and a half, Flagstar Bank has notified me that ALL my personal information including first and last names, email, phone number, home address and Social Security number has been stolen..............................


The file sharing program was 20 YEARS OLD!! How long is that in computer years??

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I have one of my accounts there, and got the same letter.

I have all electronics such as EFT, ACH, Debit, online banking, etc disabled, but still, who knows what could come of this.

Sadly, seemingly ALL bank back-ends are decades old. A friend of mine actually runs the system for a few of the major banks in the area, and he said that anyone would be mortified at how archaic it is. As in stuff we would have thrown away in the 90's for not being useful anymore.

Keeping it going is a 16 hour a day grind. Seems none of the majors want to risk all the bugs and unknowns that come with a new system.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kelton

Well, here we go again! For the second time in approximately a year and a half, Flagstar Bank has notified me that ALL my personal information including first and last names, email, phone number, home address and Social Security number has been stolen. I can find no news stories about this latest breach which affected over 1,500,000 customers of theirs according to the letter I received from them last week....

After the first breach, I placed security freezes and fraud alerts on all 3 credit reports and have always monitored all my finances, banks and credit cards daily. Unfortunately, there are other things criminals can do with this information. They can file taxes in my name, apply for health insurances, etc. etc.....

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That is so frustrating. The problem is larger than just one bank though. We hear of this happening over and over again.

I can't help but wonder if there is a way to fix this at some fundamental level so it can't possibly happen again anywhere. I suspect a proper fix would be rejected by big business as too much of an inconvenience to them. Instead they should regard it as a necessary cost of doing staying in business.

When these things happen, one thing we can know for sure is that the data was stolen while in an unencrypted state. Had the encrypted data been stolen, there would be no problem. If banks can't be trusted to secure data, perhaps they shouldn't be allowed to be banks. I find it hard to believe that there is no other bank willing to do that bank's job properly.

I received the same letter. I closed my accounts there about 6 months ago.

I closed all of my accounts there in 2012 or 2013 and still got the letter. My credit reports are always locked, so I'm not concerned so much about that, but the other possible avenues for fraud are a bit concerning.