Data breach at Pioneer Bank

ROTTERDAM – A laptop stolen from a Pioneer Bank employee "contained secured personal information of certain customers, including names, social security numbers, street addresses, and account and debit card numbers," the bank said in a letter to those customers.
Roy Pechtel, who uses the Pioneer branch on Altamont Ave. in Rotterdam, received the letter in the mail over the weekend. Pechtel told NewsChannel 13 he is concerned that his identity, and his retirement account, could be at risk.
"When I called them today, they didn't really have an answer," Petchtel said Monday. "They said their security people were trying to handle the problem their own way. I said, 'Nah, you're trying to cover something up here.'"
The laptop was stolen on January 26, the bank said in the letter. Pioneer said police were notified immediately, but the bank did not inform the affected customers or the state Attorney General’s Office until February 23.
"Pioneer Bank has been working closely with authorities regarding the theft," the bank said in a statement. "Protecting customer information is of the utmost importance to Pioneer, and it’s a priority we take very seriously."
Pioneer is not aware of any misuse of customers’ information as a result of the breach, the bank said in the letter. Pioneer said it is conducting additional monitoring on accounts, and extending one year of free credit monitoring to affected customers.
Citing the ongoing investigation, a Pioneer executive declined to answer a NewsChannel 13 reporter’s questions about where the laptop was stolen, and why an employee had some customers’ personal information on the laptop.
It was unclear late Monday whether the bank, or the employee, had violated the law. The state Department of Financial Services, which oversees the banking industry, is now investigating, a spokesman confirmed.
Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the California-based Identity Theft Resource Center, told NewsChannel 13 it is not uncommon for escrow officers and loan officers to have customer information on their laptop.
But Velasquez said data breaches involving laptops are not common in the financial sector. She encouraged affected customers to inquire about additional layers of protection that might be available to them.