Romanian CEC Bank blocks 17,000 cards

Romanian state-owned lender CEC bank has blocked the VISA cards of around 17,000 of its clients for security reasons, fearing an information security breach. Account information was most likely accessed via the Internet, according to the bank, which also announced other Romanian and international banks have been affected by this. “The bank has been informed that a number of cards issued by banks in Romania and abroad have been potentially compromised through an international database. CEC Bank has decided to block the cards and re-issue a new card and PIN number, at no cost, for a number of cards in its portfolio,” CEC Bank announced in a statement. “This attack did not target CEC Bank’s cards alone and was not due to any bank vulnerability. Our clients’ money is safe,” the statement further reads. CEC Bank is so far the only bank active in Romania that mentioned the international security breach on customers’ credit and debit cards.