We Could Get Hacked: Cyber Disclaimers in Bank SEC Filings

From JPMorgan Chase to Dairy Queen, several large corporations have disclosed data security breaches in recent weeks, underscoring that cyberattacks are now a major risk facing businesses of all kinds. The digital library Cryptome recently did a search for "hacker" in the Securities and Exchange Commission's database and found more than 8,000 companies have included the word in their filings. Nearly all of these were risk disclaimers (barring the odd reference to someone with the surname Hacker). Here's a sampling of how financial institutions of varying sizes and types have warned investors about the possibility of data breaches, culled from the first 2,000 search results.

"If a 'hacker' were able to infiltrate the platform, you would be subject to the increased risk of fraud or borrower identity theft and may experience losses on, or delays in the recoupment of amounts owed on, a fraudulently induced purchase of a Note. Additionally, if a hacker were able to access … secure files, he or she might be able to gain access to your personal information." — Prosper Funding

"Information security risks for financial institutions like us have increased recently in part because of new technologies, the use of the Internet and telecommunications technologies (including mobile devices) to conduct financial and other business transactions and the increased sophistication and activities of organized crime, perpetrators of fraud, hackers, terrorists and others. In addition to cyber-attacks or other security breaches involving the theft of sensitive and confidential information, hackers recently have engaged in attacks against large financial institutions, particularly denial of service attacks, that are designed to disrupt key business services, such as customer-facing web sites." — Alliance Data Systems