On June 8, 2023, Mortgage Industry Advisory Corporation (“MIAC”) filed a notice of data breach on behalf of FirstBank Puerto Rico after MIAC determined that a cyberattack targeting the company’s IT network resulted in FirstBank customer data being leaked. While neither MIAC nor FirstBank has confirmed the leaked data types, MIAC began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals who were impacted by the recent data security incident. These letters will provide individual victims of the breach with information about what data of theirs was leaked.
If you received a data breach notification from MIAC or FirstBank Puerto Rico, it is essential you understand what is at risk and what you can do about it. In a third-party data breach, it is common for consumers to ignore letters written by companies they are unfamiliar with. However, this is a mistake. These letters should be taken seriously regardless of which company’s name appears on the letterhead. To learn more about how to protect yourself from becoming a victim of fraud or identity theft and what your legal options are in the wake of the FirstBank Puerto Rico data breach, please see our recent piece on the topic here.
What We Know So Far About the FirstBank Puerto Rico Breach
News of the FirstBank Puerto Rico data breach is still fresh; however, what we know at this point comes from the MIAC’s filing with the Attorney General of Vermont. According to this source, on April 6, 2023, MIAC learned of a data security incident impacting its IT network. After investigating the incident, on May 3, 2023, MIAC determined that certain FirstBank customer data stored on the company’s computer system was subject to unauthorized access between April 5, 2023 and April 6, 2023. On May 2, 2023, MIAC informed FirstBank Puerto Rico of the breach.
Upon discovering that sensitive consumer data was made available to an unauthorized party, MIAC began to review the affected files to determine what information was compromised and which consumers were impacted. Unfortunately, a list of the compromised data types is not yet available; however, the MIAC data breach affected other financial institutions, which reported leaked Social Security numbers.
On June 8, 2023, MIAC sent out data breach letters to FirstBank Puerto Rico customers whose information was compromised as a result of the recent data security incident. Note that the recent MIAC breach did not affect FirstBank’s IT network and was limited to the information provided to MIAC.
More Information About FirstBank Puerto Rico
Founded in 1948, FirstBank Puerto Rico is a bank based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The company’s official name is First Bancorp, which is technically a financial holding company that oversees the operation of FirstBank Puerto Rico. FirstBank operates 67 branches in Puerto Rico and Florida, making it the largest bank in Puerto Rico. FirstBank Puerto Rico employs more than 3,133 people and generates approximately $904 million in annual revenue.
