Patelco CU Reports 'Serious Security Incident'

The $9.7 billion Patelco Credit Union in Dublin, Calif., was hit by a “serious security incident” on Saturday, President/CEO Erin Mendez acknowledged, after a number of member complaints.

“This required us to shut down some of our day-to-day banking systems so that we can remediate the issue and contain the impact, including online banking, our mobile App, and our call center,” Mendez wrote in an email to members. “Currently, electronic transactions such as transfers (including Zelle) direct deposits, balance inquiries, and payments are unavailable. Debit and credit card transaction function in a limited capacity.”

The email was posted by a member on social media on Sunday.

The credit union said its branches, call center and live chat will be open and ready to assist as much as they can during regular business hours starting today and anticipate longer than normal wait times.

“We’ll answer your questions as best we can, but we cannot provide specific information on your accounts at this time. We will provide further updates as information becomes available,” Patelco’s social media post read. “We know this situation is concerning, and we are committed to keeping you informed as the investigation continues.”

In a post on Sunday afternoon, Patelco said its teams were working around the clock with top-tier cybersecurity experts to assess the situation and to restore service to members.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to provide an ETA on when those systems will be running as expected,” the credit union said.

In an update posted late Sunday night, the credit union said its teams were still working to resolve the outage.

“We deeply apologize for the inconvenience and frustration caused by this incident,” Patelco said on its website.

The credit union operates 37 locations and serves more than 500,000 members.

Patelco did not report how many accounts may have been affected by this security incident or if accounts had been compromised.