Payment gateway Slim CD suffered a data breach resulting in an unauthorized bad actor obtaining access to nearly 1.7 million credit cards.Credit: PeopleImages via iStock / Getty Images

Data breaches have become increasingly common, with a major incident emerging almost every few weeks. While compromised personal contact details, phone numbers, and addresses are concerning, the theft of sensitive financial information, such as bank account numbers or credit card details, poses a far greater threat.

Slim CD, a payment gateway provider, has recently disclosed a severe data breach that has significant implications for millions of people.

A staggering 1.7 million credit card accounts, including cardholder names, addresses, and expiration dates, were compromised during a 10-month-long data breach at Slim CD.

Massive Data Breach Exposes Millions of Sensitive Credit Card Details

According to a recent incident notice filed by the company, Slim CD detected suspicious activity on its computer systems around June 15, 2024, prompting an investigation that revealed the issue began nearly a year earlier. The company confirmed that unauthorized individuals had system access between August 17, 2023, and June 15, 2024.

In a separate filing with the Maine Attorney General, as reported by SecurityWeek, Slim CD revealed that 1,693,000 individuals were affected by the data breach.

Notably, this breach extends beyond the state of Maine, with only 797 of the nearly 1.7 million affected individuals being Maine residents, as noted by computerstechnicians.com.

According to Slim CD, the company has initiated the process of notifying affected individuals of the breach.

Protecting Yourself in the Aftermath of the Breach

Given the sensitive nature of the compromised financial information, affected parties must remain vigilant and closely monitor their credit reports and credit card statements for potentially unauthorized transactions.

Individuals can access a complimentary yearly credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com. Additionally, a free one-year fraud warning can be placed on their credit file, which will notify businesses and require them to take extra precautions to confirm their identity before completing a transaction.