Happy State Bank Notifies 10,069 Customers of Recent Data Breach

Console and Associates, P.C.
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On March 16, 2023, Happy State Bank (“HSB”) filed a notice of data breach with the Maine Attorney General’s office after learning that confidential consumer information stored on the company’s computer system was compromised following an email phishing attack. Based on the company’s official filing, the incident resulted in an unauthorized party gaining access to consumers’ names and Social Security numbers. After confirming that consumer data was leaked, HSB began sending out data breach notification letters to all individuals who were impacted by the recent data security incident.

If you ever banked with Happy State Bank, you provided the company with a wealth of personal information about yourself and your family. Of course, you did so with the understanding that Happy State Bank would do everything in its power to protect your information. However, in the wake of the HSB data breach, many customers are wondering if more could have been done to avoid their information being leaked. As we’ve discussed in prior posts, data breach victims may have the right to pursue a legal claim against any organization that negligently leaks their data.

What We Know So Far About the Happy State Bank Breach

The available information regarding the Happy State Bank breach comes from the company’s filing with the Maine Attorney General’s office. According to this source, in July 2022, Happy State Bank detected suspicious activity within an employee’s email account. In response, the company launched an investigation in hopes of learning more about the incident and whether any consumer information was leaked as a result.

The HSB investigation confirmed that the employee email account was subject to a successful phishing attack, which gave the hacker access to certain files containing confidential customer information.

Upon discovering that sensitive consumer data was made available to an unauthorized party, Happy State Bank began to review the affected files to determine what information was compromised and which consumers were impacted. While the breached information varies depending on the individual, it may include your name and Social Security number.

On March 16, 2023, Happy State Bank sent out data breach letters to all individuals whose information was compromised as a result of the recent data security incident.

More Information About Happy State Bank

Founded in 1908, Happy State Bank is a financial institution based in Happy, Texas. Happy State Bank operates more than 60 locations throughout the Texas Panhandle, South Plains, Austin, Central Texas and Dallas/Fort Worth. In 2022, Happy Bancshares, Inc. was acquired by Home Bancshares, Inc., resulting in Happy State Bank becoming a division of Centennial Bank. Happy State Bank employs more than 750 people and generates approximately $136 million in annual revenue.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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