The $1.1 billion Eureka, Calif.-based Coast Central Credit Union took its website down Thursday after it was hacked. The credit union said there was no compromise of personal member data, but faced criticism from cybersecurity experts regarding the way it handled the event.

"It is the public facing website," Coast Central Vice President of Marketing Dean Hart told CU Times. He added the credit union took the website down early on Feb. 25 for about 24 hours for maintenance. Hart confirmed reports of the hacking, but explained the online banking portal was unaffected by the hack or the site maintenance.

Brian Krebs, author of the blog "Krebs on Security," wrote that he learned of the compromise from Alex Holden, founder of Milwaukee-based Hold Security. Krebs wrote that hackers retrofitted the credit union's site with a web shell, a backdoor program that provides attackers with remote control of a website and server. Shell components used by hackers can spread malware and promote malicious websites.

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Roy Urrico

Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).