breach
Bulletins

An ex Block employee downloaded Cash App customer data without permission

Names and brokerage account numbers were among the stolen data.

Block said a former employee accessed Cash App Investing customer data.

Block said it is reaching out to roughly 8.2 million current and former customers to let them know of the breach.

Photo: Tech Daily/Unsplash

A former employee gained access to Block's Cash App Investing customer data, the company said Tuesday.

The former employee downloaded reports from the Block investing product on Dec. 10, 2021, Block reported to the SEC.

“While this employee had regular access to these reports as part of their past job responsibilities, in this instance these reports were accessed without permission after their employment ended,” Block said in the filing.

Block said the former employee, who was not named, obtained reports that included the names and brokerage account numbers of Cash App Investing customers.

Information on the brokerage portfolio value, holdings and stock trading activity for some customers were also compromised, the company said. The former employee did not gain access to other critical data, such as usernames, passwords, Social Security numbers, birthdates or payment card information.

Block said it is reaching out to roughly 8.2 million current and former customers to let them know of the breach. The company has also informed regulators and law enforcement authorities.

Shares of Block fell more than 6% Tuesday reportedly on news of the breach.

Benjamin Pimentel

Benjamin Pimentel ( @benpimentel) covers crypto and fintech from San Francisco. He has reported on many of the biggest tech stories over the past 20 years for the San Francisco Chronicle, Dow Jones MarketWatch and Business Insider, from the dot-com crash, the rise of cloud computing, social networking and AI to the impact of the Great Recession and the COVID crisis on Silicon Valley and beyond. He can be reached at bpimentel@protocol.com or via Google Voice at (925) 307-9342.

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