Fidelity National Information Services Loses Data On 2.3 Million Consumers

Fidelity National Information Services, a financial processing company, said Tuesday that a worker at one of its subsidiaries stole 2.3 million consumer records containing credit card, bank account and other personal information. The employee sold the information to an unidentified data broker who sold it to several direct marketing companies, but the data was not used in identity theft or other fraudulent financial activity, Fidelity said in a statement. Fidelity National is unrelated to Fidelity Investments, the nation’s largest mutual-fund company.

About 2.2 million records stolen from the subsidiary Certegy Check Services Inc. contained bank account information and 99,000 contained credit card information, Fidelity said. “As a result of this apparent theft, the consumers affected received marketing solicitations from the companies that bought the data,” said Renz Nichols, president of St. Petersburg-based Certegy. Fidelity said Certegy had asked a court in St. Petersburg to retrieve all the information from the employee and the marketing companies and to stop its use.It also said Certegy has contacted law enforcement officials. Certegy will notify all affected consumers of the theft and has contacted major credit agencies, Fidelity said. The employee, whose name was not released, was fired.