Nearly half a million customers of a Dublin-based credit union have been left unable to access their money due to a “serious security incident” on Sunday.
Patelco Credit Union, which has locations across the state, told customers it had to shut down “some of our everyday banking systems” because of the incident.
“We are writing to let you know that on June 29 we experienced a serious security incident. This required us to shut down some of our day-to-day banking systems so we could correct the problem and contain the impact, including online banking, our mobile app and our call center,” Erin Mendez, president and CEO of Patelco . wrote in an email to consumers. “Currently, electronic transactions such as transfers (including Zelle), balance requests and payments are not available.”
Patelco Credit Union, which has locations across the state, told customers it had to shut down “some of our everyday banking systems” due to a serious incident. Alyssa Goard reports.
According to Mendez, the credit union has been working with cybersecurity teams since Saturday to resolve the issue and restore online services. However, it is unclear when the problem will be solved.
The company first told customers about the outage on Saturday morning.
NBC Bay Area did not receive an immediate comment from Patelco on Sunday.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we deal with the serious security incident from yesterday.
This has required us to shut down some of our day-to-day banking systems so we can correct the problem and contain the impact, including online banking, our mobile app and…
— Patelco Credit Union (@PatelcoPays) June 30, 2024
Patelco has 33 branches in the Bay Area and said they will be open Monday and “ready to assist as much as they can during our regular business hours.”
The company took to X, formerly Twitter, to tell customers they can access cash withdrawals and deposits at specific ATMs within the Co-Op credit union network. According to the company, there are over 30,000 shared branch ATMs in the US.
At Patelco’s headquarters on Sunday, many customers drove to visit the ATMs there in the hope of finding clarity. Customers found they were able to withdraw money from those ATMs, however, they were unable to check their account balances or make transfers.
Erykah Phillips of Antioch said earlier over the weekend she knew something was wrong when she couldn’t get paid for her business. She could not access her account information online or through the Patelco customer service hotline.
It just said, ‘We’re experiencing technical difficulties,’ and it shut down, that was it,” Phillips said.
Phillips was disappointed that it took until Sunday afternoon for the company to send her an email explaining the issue. She is still unable to make the transfer she needs to her account.
“As a customer, I came to a credit union because I had a lot of trouble with the major banks, but now I’m having trouble with Patelco. [Credit Union] “I’m thinking about going to a big bank, I just don’t know which one I want to go to,” Phillips said.
Many credit union users took to social media to voice their concerns. Some said it could potentially affect their pay, rent and mortgage payments, and that they needed access to their money.
“[I’m] hoping tomorrow will be payday, but right now I’m not sure if I’ll be able to access it or see if it’s going to come in,” said Mike Corpos of San Carlos.
Corpos, who said he had an account with Patelco for nearly a decade, said he hopes his money is still in his account.
“I think that’s the concern of a lot of people, looking at the Twitter feed is, ‘Is our money safe?'” Corpos continued.
Brian Samoulides of Walnut Creek told NBC Bay Area that he is worried about whether his mortgage payment will be made.
“There was no communication until this afternoon when the CEO sent this super non-committal email,” Samoulides said. “Tomorrow morning I have to call my mortgage company and ask them about other ways I can pay them.”
The online chorus of concerns has asked the credit union to be more transparent about what’s going on. Some users said they feared Patelco’s systems had been hacked.
“It would be nice to have more transparency. If you’ve been cyberattacked, just come out and say you’ve been cyberattacked,” Samoulides said.
Patelco customer Brendan Bartholomew of Pacifica noted, “It’s kind of a bummer not being able to check and make sure the payments went through.”
“This is really an example of how vulnerable our infrastructure is or can be,” he continued.
Patelco said around 8:20 p.m. Sunday that he was “still working to resolve the outage.”
In addition, it told its customers that representatives will be available to answer questions during normal business hours, but will not be able to provide account-specific information.
“Currently electronic transactions such as transfers, payments, balance requests, payments are unavailable,” Patelco told X. “Patelco branches, call center and live chat will be open and ready to assist as much as possible can during our regular business hours starting tomorrow, Monday, July 1st. We anticipate longer than normal times and really appreciate your patience.”
Update: Our teams are still working to resolve the outage. Currently electronic transactions such as transfers, payments, balance requests, payments are not available. Patelco branches, call center and Live Chat will be open and ready to help as much as they can during…
— Patelco Credit Union (@PatelcoPays) July 1, 2024
San Jose State engineering professor Ahmed Banafa, whose research focuses on cybersecurity, said it’s significant that the company is identifying what happened as a “serious security incident” and that online systems remain unavailable.
“Which tells me that someone is actually inside their network and has compromised their capability,” Banafa said.
“And what [Patelco has] done is like unplugging — it’s like unplugging a computer — they’re unplugging the network and trying to see how to handle it,” he continued.
Banafa said the extent of Patelco’s injury from the incident should be clearer in the coming days. In the meantime, he recommends to clients: “make sure you monitor all your financial activities, change your passwords.”
The credit union currently has $9 billion in assets under management and is considered one of the oldest and largest in the state, according to the company.