Hackers had access to the customer data of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce-owned Simplii Financial and Bank of Montreal, and demanded a ransom of C$1 million, CBC News reported May 28.
Simplii Financial received a tip over the weekend that hackers were in possession of personal and account information of over 40,000 customers, according to the report. In the morning of May 28, Bank of Montreal disclosed that it had also received a tip that hackers had access to the information of up to 50,000 customers of Bank of Montreal. The hackers threatened to sell the data if the banks failed to pay a ransom of C$1 million before the day ends.
Simplii Financial's investigation is still ongoing, and it will continue to notify those affected by the breach if they were deemed to have been compromised, CBC News wrote.
In a statement, Bank of Montreal said that the hackers originated the attack from outside the country. "We took steps immediately when the incident occurred, and we are confident that exposures identified related to customer data have been closed off," it added.
