Here in New York City, people haven’t been shy about voicing their frustration with the new Citi Bike service. Celebrities like Alan Cumming have made fun of it via Twitter, and the bike docks were panned in a recent New York Magazine article. Soon, however, bad press might be the least of Citi Bike’s problems.
Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a software glitch has compromised credit card information for more than 1,000 Citi Bike account holders. According to the Wall Street Journal, the accounts were compromised back in mid-April, but the letter informing customers of the breach was only just sent out to Citi Bike users on July 19.
It is unfortunate that such a young program is already plagued with so many problems, but I can see no excuse for why it took so long for Citi Bike to inform its customers about the breach. This is an age of e-mail, text messaging, and instant updates and alerts. Supposedly Citi Bike knew about the breach as early as the end of May. How did it take Citi Bike two whole months to send a notice to their customers?
The lesson here is, as always, to keep track of your credit card and debit card statements. Data breaches can happen to every company, but not every company is going to respond with the same efficiency. It could take a few days or in this case, a few months. Check your credit card activity daily, and report any fraudulent charges right away.
We also want to hear from our readers this week. Have you tried Citi Bike, and if not, will their data breach deter you from signing up? Leave a comment below, and let us know what you think!
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