Bank of America Blames Leaked SBA PPP Loan Apps on SBA Test Site

Bank of America notified the California Attorney General’s Office this week that some SBA loan application may have been exposed to third parties. Customer application data may have leaked to other lending institutions and their vendors

The affected loan applicants are part of the Small Business Administration (SBA)  Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loan. The PPP Loans are part of the US Federal government’s $2.2 trillion stimulus bill called the Coronavirus Relief Fund or CARES Act. CARES which provides aid to businesses, educational institutions, and State, Local, and Tribal governments. Bank of America is one of many lenders working with the SBA to fund loans.

Exposed Data May Include:

• Business contact information
• Business address
• Tax identification number (TIN)
• Principal Business owner name
• Address
• Social Security Number
• Phone number
• Email address and citizenship status may have been involved.

Bank of American posted a sample incident notification letter.

According to the notification, Bank of America has processed over 305,000 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications with the SBA totaling over $25 billion.

The security incident happened on April22 while Bank of America was uploading PPP Loan applications to the SBA test portal. The lenders and venders that may have seen to private financial data re all authorized by the SBA to participate in the PPP Loan program. The SBA test application platform was set up to allow let lenders experiment with their application process and transfer of applicant data to the SBA.

Previous SBA Loan Security Incidents

This is not the first security glitch associated with the US Small Business Administration loans. On April 22, almost 8,000 Emergency Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applicants were also impacted by a data breach. The financial data of both their businesses and personal information were exposed when another security bug with the SBA application site. In this incident personal information leaked may include Social Security numbers, addresses, birth dates, phone numbers, email addresses, citizenship status and insurance information.

Although Bank of America believes that there has been no misuse of the exposed financial information, the company is offering two years of free credit monitoring services to those impacted by this incident.

All citizens are entitled to a free credit report from each of the three national credit reporting companies – Experian, Equifax® and TransUnion every year. Anyone who is denied credit, is also entitled to receive a free credit report from the bureau that was used to disqualify them.

Michelle Dvorak

Michelle writes about cyber security, data privacy focusing on social media privacy as well as how to protect your IoT devices. She has worked in internet technology for over 20 years and owns METRONY, LLC. Michelle earned a B.S. in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Michelle published a guide to Cyber Security for Business Travelers