Customers of the First National Bank of Omaha are getting new debit cards thanks to the bank's quick reaction to an outside data breach.
According to the Bank's spokesman, Kevin Langin, the bank was notified by other financial institutions of a data breach at a not yet disclosed national business. Since the bank has operations in seven states, it knew it had to act quickly.
"We recently issued new debit cards across our seven-state service area to customers whose cards may have been compromised through a nationwide breach that has not yet been announced," Langin told the Omaha World-Herald.
Both the FBI and the Secret Service have yet to comment publicly on the breach, but First National thought it significant enough to begin the re-issuing process. These breaches often take months to become public, but the Omaha bank didn't want that timeframe causing potential troubles for their customers' holiday shopping.
"[The reissue of cards is] in an effort to prevent customers from having issues using their cards during the holiday season," Langin said.
As the investigation into the incident is still ongoing, Langin wasn't able to disclose how many customers were affected, however, only debit cards are being replaced at this time.
First National's reaction to this increasingly common situation is an example of excellent business continuity planning. Any third party that your company has a business relationship with has to be incorporated in a business continuity plan. If something happens to them, your business has to respond quickly in order to quell any potential for a negative customer experience.
Companies that have yet to develop their own disaster recovery strategy can partner with a business continuity consultant that has extensive experience with these issues.