A

ransomware
attack
on
Bay-area

Patelco
Credit
Union
caused
almost
half
a
million
members
to
lose
access
to

banking
services,
and
the
outage
could
last
for
weeks.

The
company
shared
news
of
the
attack
on
June
29
via
Twitter.
The
services
knocked
off
line
include
online
banking,
the
company’s
mobile
app,
direct
deposits,
transfers,
debit
and
credit
card
transactions,
Zelle,
balance
inquiries,
online
bill
payments
and
monthly
statements,
among
others.

In
addition
to
consumer
banking,
Patelco
Credit
Union
is
a

mortgage
originator
and
offers
home
equity
lines
of
credit
and
mortgage

refinancing.
The
company
is
based
in
Dublin,
California
but
serves
the

San
Francisco
Bay
Area
and
Northern
California.

Patelco
CEO
Erin
Mendez
released
a
statement
on
Wednesday
saying
its
cybersecurity
specialists
have
gotten
“core
systems”
validated
and
that
the
money
of
members
is
“safe
and
secure.”
She
added
that
she
doesn’t
expect
to
have
the
systems
up
and
running
this
weekend.

“I
know
this
continues
to
cause
our
members
frustration
and
many
of
you
have
questions,”
she
said
in
the
statement,
adding
that
any
fees
incurred
as
a
result
of
the
shutdown
will
be
waived.
“We
hear
your
concerns
and
are
working
around
the
clock
to
address
them.
Our
team
is
committed
to
doing
everything
we
can
to
support
our
members
through
this
difficult
situation.”

The
Mercury
News
reported
that
the
hackers
infiltrated
the
bank’s
internal
databases
via
a
phishing
email
and
encrypted
its
contents,
which
locked
the
bank
out
of
its
systems.

Patelco
operates
as
a
nonprofit
cooperative
and
has
$9
billion
in
assets.
While
the
company
has
provided
daily
updates
since
the
attack
on
June
29,
there
doesn’t
appear
to
be
a
timeline
for
when
their
systems
might
be
back
up
and
it
has
warned
that
further
outages
could
come.

Services
that
remain
online
include
check
and
cash
deposits,
ATM
withdrawals,
ACH
transfers,
ACH
for
bill
payments,
and
in-branch
loan
payments.

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