An employee stole 2.3 million consumer records from Certegy Check Services Inc., a unit of Fidelity National Information Services Inc. The information was sold to a data broker, which in turn sold it to several direct marketing companies, according to published reports.
The data included 2.2 million records with bank account information and 99,000 with credit card information, according to a statement from Fidelity. While the data broker sold the names and addresses on the records, it did not make the financial information available, according to published reports
“We have no reason to believe that the theft resulted in any subsequent fraudulent activity or financial damage to the consumer, and we are taking the necessary steps to see that any further use of the data stops,” said Renz Nichols, president of St. Petersburg, FL-based Certegy, in a statement.
Several published reports identified the employee who allegedly stole the data as Walter Sullivan, a senior database administrator with Certegy. Sullivan has been fired, and the company has filed a civil lawsuit accusing him of misappropriating trade secrets and breaching both fiduciary duty and confidentiality agreements, reports said.
The Associated Press identified the data company Sullivan sold the information to as Jam Marketing, and indicated that the company was unreachable.
Cetergy is in the process of recovering the data from the companies, both through direct request and court action. The company has also alerted Visa, Mastercard, and the three main credit bureaus regarding the breach, and will be notifying affected consumers.
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