What We Know About The Capital One Data Breach

Shares of Capital One Financial Corp. COF were trading lower Tuesday morning after the company confirmed it was the victim of a data breach.

What Happened

Capital One said it determined on July 19 an individual obtained unauthorized access to certain types of personal information relating to credit card customers and people who applied for credit products between 2005 and 2019. The FBI arrested the person responsible and it's "unlikely" the information obtained illegally was used for fraud or disseminated by the individual.

The company said no credit card account numbers or log-in credentials were compromised and 99% of all Social Security numbers Capital One stores was not compromised. The company also said around 80,000 linked bank account numbers were impacted.

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The data breach impacted around 100 million individuals in the U.S. and another approximate 6 million Canadian users, the company said.

"While I am grateful that the perpetrator has been caught, I am deeply sorry for what has happened," said Richard Fairbank, Chairman and CEO. "I sincerely apologize for the understandable worry this incident must be causing those affected and I am committed to making it right."

Why It's Important

Capital One's data breach is far from the first of its kind, but this situation may be unique as it may have been conducted by an individual with inside knowledge. CNN names Paige Thompson as the individual behind the breach and she obtained access to Capital One's infrastructure through her prior job at a cloud hosting company that Capital One used. A criminal complaint against Thompson states she even boasted on social media platforms she obtained private Capital One information.

Capital One said it will reach out to individuals impacted by the data breach through multiple channels and will offer free credit monitoring and identity protection to all those impacted.

Capital One's stock traded lower by 4.7% to $92.30 per share Tuesday morning.