Starting, February 21, 2023, we began to identify irregular activity on select members’ bank accounts. Our incident response team immediately initiated several security measures to limit member impact.
Westoba’s banking network and systems remain secure during the incident. It is suspected that malicious individuals are attempting to exploit weak passwords being used by some members for their online banking.
*Westoba’s Virtual Services is open Sunday, February 26 from 8:00 AM-4:00 PM. Call 1-877-WESTOBA (937-8622) or book an appointment here.*
How we’re protecting members
- Members, where Westoba has identified unusual activity on their account, will continue to be contacted directly by Westoba representatives. If you have not been contacted, we do encourage you to check your online services and report any unusual activity on your account. You may receive a call from a Westoba representative to verify transactions (Westoba never asks for passwords over the phone or email).
- To ensure your banking safety and security, access to your online banking account was deactivated* if you have not logged into your account within the last six months or since account opening.
- Please note, we are actively working with individual members who have experienced issues.
*Online service access to deactivated accounts may be temporarily impacted. Members may reach out to our Virtual Services team (info at the bottom of the page) to reset their passwords. Do not attempt to change your password on the same computer or mobile device you normally use. Your password can be changed through online banking, via phone call to Virtual Services, or in-branch.
What should members do?
It is important to always practice safe banking. We encourage our members to do the following:
- Review your account(s) for unusual transactions
- Update your passwords using the following strong Personal Access Code (PAC) guidelines:
- at least 1 uppercase letter
- at least 1 lower case letter
- at least 1 number
- at least 1 special character, you can use any of these: @#$%^&*
- Password length must be between 8 to 30 characters
- No spaces
- Enable Direct Alerts on your account. Direct Alerts will let you know the moment changes are made to your online banking account, such as login access, bill payment, vendors added, etc. This adds another level of security to your account. It is important to monitor these alerts and report any potentially fraudulent activity as soon as it happens.
- Log in to Westoba’s online banking to sign up for Direct Alerts.
- Navigate to the Messages and Alerts tab and click on Manage Alerts. Choose Add New Alerts.
- Follow this “how-to” for further directions. New IOS/Android updates may silence your notifications from Direct Alerts, please check the settings on your phone.
If you notice unusual activity on your account, please call 1-877-WESTOBA (937-8622), email infowcul@westoba.com or book an appointment below.
