In a recent cybersecurity breach, mortgage and loan giant Mr. Cooper fell victim to a cyberattack that has potentially impacted more than 14 million customers. The breach, which occurred at the end of October, has raised significant concerns about the safety of sensitive personal information.

Mr. Cooper acknowledged the severity of the breach, stating that it involved the compromise of “substantially all of our current and former customers’ sensitive personal information.” This included data such as customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, dates of birth, and bank account numbers.

“The personal information in the impacted files included your name, address, phone number, Social Security number, date of birth, bank account number,” the company said in a filing with the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

“Our forensic review, engagement with law enforcement and regulators, and defense of litigation is ongoing,” the company said in its statement. “Additionally, our forensic review has determined that personal information relating to substantially all of our current and former customers was obtained from our systems during this incident.”

The cyberattack was initially detected on Oct. 31, when the company noticed suspicious activity within its network systems. Mr. Cooper promptly initiated a response to contain the incident and safeguard customer information. The incident report also revealed that unauthorized access had occurred between Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, during which files containing personal information were accessed by the unauthorized party, ABC News reported.

Mr. Cooper has been actively cooperating with law enforcement agencies, regulators, and cybersecurity experts in its ongoing forensic review and investigation into the incident. The company has assured its customers that no further misuse of the compromised data has been observed on the dark web, but says it is still closely monitoring the situation, NBC reported.

Jay Bray, chairman and CEO of Mr. Cooper Group, issued an apology for the cyberattack and breach.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki: https://www.pexels.com/photo/unrecognizable-hacker-with-smartphone-typing-on-laptop-at-desk-5935791/