British FinTech Company Revolut Hit by Cyberattack, Compromises 50,000+ Client Data

Following reports, the British financial technology company Revolut was recently the target of a sizable cyber data attack. The fintech company, founded in 2015, reported that the personal information of tens of thousands of its customers had been compromised.

British FinTech Company Revolut Hit by Cyberattack

In a statement courtesy of TechCrunch, Revolut spokesperson Michael Bordansky told the online news outlet that an unauthorized third party obtained access to 0.16 percent of customers for a brief period of time. This amounts to more than 50,000 individuals exposing their sensitive data to hackers.

As per Revolut's data breach disclosure to the State Data Protection Inspectorate, the critical information was obtained through the use of social engineering methods. Most social engineering methods involve impersonating an employee or stealing personnel access in order to gain entry to a company's internal data network. This method is similar to those recently reported by Uber.

The majority of customers affected by the breach are from Europe. Revolut has revealed that the recently discovered data intrusion affected 20,687 customers. Meanwhile, the data security breach affected 379 Lithuanian users. This cyberattack is a nightmare for the fintech company, which has 20 million customers worldwide.

As of this writing, the finance company has yet to specify what sorts of information were exposed in the recent cyberattack. In an interview with TechCrunch, Revolut assured its users that no funds were manipulated during the hacking incident. Furthermore, Revolut's security team acted quickly to remove the attacker's access to the company's customer data and bring the incident to an end.

Money Is Safe Says Revolut

According to a BleepingComputer report, the Lithuanian data protection agency says the breach exposed personal data such as email addresses, full names, postal addresses, phone numbers, limited payment card data, and account data. Revolut clarifies that the data accessed by each client was unique.

"Our customers' money is safe - as it has always been. All customers can continue to use their cards and accounts as normal," the Revolut spokesperson said to assure the breach victims.

In response to an acknowledged text message scam, Revolut reminded its user base that it will never ask customers for data via text message. The British fintech firm went on to advise its clients on how to identify fraudulent and phishing emails and texts.

Data security watchdogs advise internet users to browse with awareness and caution. The PSA also emphasizes how cybercriminals are constantly looking for ways to profit at the expense of other people's personal safety.

"We take incidents like these incredibly seriously, and we would like to sincerely apologize to any customers who have been affected by this incident," Revolut told reporters.

A number of phishing attempts have already been detected due to the breach. The fintech firm advises its users to learn more about online security measures.