Cyber criminals shutdown CT credit union’s online banking

A computer system shutdown that Charter Oak Federal Credit Union officials said was triggered by unidentified cyber criminals has left members unable to access their accounts online at the financial institution’s website since Friday afternoon.

Brian Orenstein, the Waterford-based credit union’s president and chief executive officer, said Monday that Charter Oak officials still aren’t certain when online banking capabilities or access to the website will be restored. Orenstein said the credit union’s information technology and security teams were forced to shutdown down access to the website and online banking portal on Friday because of the actions of unidentified “bad actors” trying to access members personal information.

“We detected some unusual activity on the website on Wednesday,” he said. “The IT team and cyber security experts acted immediately to protect member data and assets. In the process of throttling up online security, Charter Oak’s domain was temporarily locked which has resulted in downtime for the main website and online banking.”

Charter Oak has approximately 80,000 members and about half of them do online banking, Orenstein said. Shortly after the website and online banking platform were shut down, he said fake websites purporting to be the legitimate Charter Oak web page began cropping up.

Orenstein said members can still do their banking over the phone or at any one of the credit union’s 15 branches across New London and Windham counties.

“There has been no money or member data lost,” Orenstein said. “Because the system is down, the fraudsters can’t get to the website. We are encouraging members who may have provided any login or password information to contact us so we can create new logins and passwords for them, because once the website is restored, customers will be at risk of having their online accounts accessed by these individuals.”

In an email communication to credit union members, Orenstein emphasized Charter Oak’s commitment to securing members personal information, saying that it “is of the utmost importance to us.”

“Please be sure not to enter your online…