Cabot Financial (Ireland) Limited (Cabot), provide services to approximately 80 credit unions, including Credit Union Plus and other lending institutions. There have been several recent media articles relating to a cyber-attack on Cabot’s systems, and a potential data breach arising as a result.
Cabot has informed us that it is investigating an ‘ongoing cyber security incident’ and security breach on its systems, but it is not confirmed at this time whether the personal data of any of our members has been affected. Cabot has confirmed that it is continuing to investigate the matter and is liaising with relevant State authorities, including the Data Protection Commission, An Garda Síochána, and the Central Bank of Ireland.
If it transpires that any members’ data has been impacted, Credit Union Plus will contact any impacted members directly.
Please note that Credit Union Plus’s own internal systems and members online or mobile banking systems have not been affected by this issue in any way, and we continue to provide full services to our members. However, we would advise that all members remain vigilant regarding activities on all of their credit union and other bank accounts as a precaution in relation to ‘phishing’ and any unsolicited or suspicious communications they may receive including any that purport to have been sent by or on behalf of Credit Union Plus or Cabot, so that they can protect themselves against any attempted fraudulent activity.
Members should be vigilant in relation to any unsolicited communications or attempts to convince them that a call is from persons claiming to act on our or on Cabot’s behalf (or on behalf of any other financial institution or any official or State body) in an effort to trick them into disclosing information in response. Members should be suspicious and do not be tricked, even if the caller knows some of their details such as name and address, account number, or date of birth. Do not disclose any information in response to an unsolicited communication and remember, we will never ask you to move your money to another account or for personal data such as passwords, usernames, PIN numbers or banking information and do not click on any links or open any attachments from these communications. If members are in any doubt about a communication purporting to be from Cabot or Credit Union Plus do not respond. Members should hang up and contact us directly to confirm the authenticity of the communication using the contact details on our website www.creditunionplus.ie and not the details the caller or sender used or provided when contacting them.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), An Garda Síochána, and the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland (BPFI) have published guidance to educate the public about how to protect themselves from fraud which are available on the Fraud Smart website (www.fraudsmart.ie) and on the NCSC website at www.ncsc.gov.ie/pdfs/NCSC_Quick_Guide_Phishing.pdf.
The above advice and guidance should be followed by all individuals in any event as a matter of good practice and caution to protect themselves from fraud, and members should engage with this guidance while we await an update on this incident. We have sought further information from Cabot, but no further information is available at this time other than the statement on their website at https://www.cabotfinancial.ie/ which advises that any “necessary updates” will be provided while they work to establish if personal data of customers may have been accessed.
We are treating this matter very seriously and will update members further if we receive any material update relating to their data in this matter.
If any members think they have been the victim of phishing and provided any personal details in relation to their account with us to a suspected fraudster or are suspicious about any communication they have received in relation to their account with us, they should make contact with us in branch, or by phone.
Should any member have any further queries at this time, please contact us in any of our branches, by phone on 046 9021395, or by email on info@creditunionplus.ie
