Cybersafetyconnections September 4, 2023, Vol# 133 

  • From Konbriefing, Cyberattack on Charter Oak Federal Credit Union – Waterford, Connecticut, USA (New London County). 
  • It is not yet known what may have led to the cyberattack. 
  • About 80,000 members are served by credit union and half of them doing online banking were not able to access website and online banking down. 
  • Some steps have been taken to mitigate the loss.

What happened? 

Online Banking PNG Transperancy 

Bad actors tried to gain unauthorized access to Charter Oak Federal Credit Union members personal information according to ctinsider. 

Why did this happen? 

Asking Why 

It is not yet clear why it happened except that steps were taken to step up online security. 

Who was impacted? 

Identity theft-dont let it happen 

Charter Oak Federal Credit Union – Waterford, Connecticut, USA (New London County) has about 80,000 members and about half of the members do online banking. So, members who do online banking were not able to access their account at the time of the incident. 

How was loss mitigated?  

 
Pre and Post Diseater Management 

According to Brian Orenstein, the Waterford-based credit union’s president and chief executive officer, once the IT team and cyber security experts detected attempted unauthorized access, they took actions to safeguard member’s data and assets. 

The actions taken to mitigate loss according to the president are: 

  • Charter Oak President and CEO Brian Orenstein sent email to members and restating that safeguarding member information was of high importance.

  • The credit union’s information technology and security team shut down access to the website and online banking portal as a result of unidentified bad actors who were attempting to access members’ personal information.  

  • Charter Oak President and CEO Brian Orenstein said that online banking capabilities or access to the website would be restored soon, but the exact time is was uncertain. 

  • Members were warned to be careful of fake websites popping up pretending to be Charter Oak website after the Credit Union’s domain was temporarily locked to step up online security. 

  • Members were advised to contact Chater Oak to change their login credentials in the event they may have used it on the fake websites since the bad actors may attempt to use the information to gain access to their accounts once the website is up. 

  • Orenstein advised members could still do transactions over the phone or at any of the 15 locations across New London and Windham counties. 

  • Orenstein emphasized that there has been no loss of money or member data.  

  • The FBI and the National Credit Union Administration have been contacted. 

  •  Charter Oak offered to refund members who had experienced fees or charges caused by the disruption of online services. 

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