Cash App data breach could have affected over 8 million users

(Gray News) – A data breach committed by a former employee of the company which owns the mobile payment app Cash App could have affected over 8 million users.

According to a report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Block, Inc. announced that it determined a former employee downloaded reports containing U.S. customer information from its subsidiary Cash App Investing LLC in December 2021.

Although the former employee had access to the information during their employment, the data was accessed without permission after they were no longer with the company, the filing says.

Only customers who used Cash App’s stock function are affected by the breach, according to the report. The information included the full name and brokerage account number, brokerage portfolio value, brokerage portfolio holdings and stock trading activity.

Downloaded data did not include usernames and passwords, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, payment card information, addresses, bank account information or any other identifiable information.

Customers outside of the U.S. were not affected, the filing says.

When it made the discovery, Block launched an investigation in partnership with a forensics firm. The company has notified regulatory authorities and law enforcement of the breach.

The filing says the company “takes the security of information belonging to its customers very seriously and continues to review and strengthen administrative and technical safeguards to protect the information of its customers.”