A hack has exposed Citibank users' credit cards and personal information, becoming the latest in a string of high-profile cyber-crimes against prominent companies.

Unknown hackers reportedly now have 200,000 Citigroup customer names, account numbers and contact information, though the credit card and financial services company denies they took birth dates, social security numbers, card expiration dates and security codes. The cyber-attacks occurred in early May, but Citigroup yesterday admitted the breach in an e-mail to the Reuters news agency.

"We are contacting customers whose information was impacted. Citi has implemented enhanced procedures to prevent a recurrence of this type of event," a company spokesperson said. "For the security of these customers, we are not disclosing further details."

Citibank's silence about the month-old attack until now is puzzling; the company has not yet said why it waited to inform the public of the security breach. In this respect, Citibank's story mirrors that of Sony, which did not admit hackers had compromised nearly 100 million users' accounts until a week after the April 16 to 19 attacks.

Sony's legal and financial fate could be a harbinger of things to come for Citibank. The PlayStation 3 maker now faces lawsuits, investigations into its security measures, a subpoena and the public embarrassment of having to defend before Congress its decision to wait a week before publically admitting the breach.

The Tokyo-based company's stocks have plunged and it will have to pay at least $170 million in cleanup costs, not to mention covering free games plus credit card monitoring services and insurance to anyone affected by identity theft.


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