VA Bank Merger Creates Security Breach

A bad file that went awry during a bank merger caused a security breach at a community bank in Virginia.

Some Union First Market Bank customers found that their bank account information was accessible to other customers after two banks, Union Bank and Trust Company and First Market Bank, merged on March 22 to become Union First Market Bank. The newly-merged bank is part of Union First Market Bankshares Corp., ($2.94 billion in assets) based in Richmond, VA.

Bank officials say that when online bill-pay accounts were transferred from First Market Bank to Union First Market Bank over the weekend of the merger, a bad file containing information of around 1000 customers was sent. That data then was accessible to some other customers.

The bank worked last week to fix the problem, and representatives say the institution will offer credit checks and identity theft protection to customers impacted by the glitch. According to the bank, its online banking portal -- which was taken offline when the breach was discovered -- is now restored and available to use for all "but a limited number" of customers still affected by the bad file.


About the Author

Linda McGlasson

Linda McGlasson

Managing Editor

Linda McGlasson is a seasoned writer and editor with 20 years of experience in writing for corporations, business publications and newspapers. She has worked in the Financial Services industry for more than 12 years. Most recently Linda headed information security awareness and training and the Computer Incident Response Team for Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC), a subsidiary of the NYSE Group (NYX). As part of her role she developed infosec policy, developed new awareness testing and led the company's incident response team. In the last two years she's been involved with the Financial Services Information Sharing Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), editing its quarterly member newsletter and identifying speakers for member meetings.




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