JPMorgan was the chief victim in the largest theft of customer data from a financial institution in US history

The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, has charged three people in connection to "the largest theft of customer data from a U.S. financial institution in history."

One of the victims is JPMorgan Chase, which suffered a 2014 data breach.

Gery Shalon, Joshua Samuel Aaron, and Ziv Orenstein were charged in a 23-count indictment related to the computer hacking of several financial institutions and 

financial news publishers.

They are accused of stealing the personal information of over 100 million customers, according to the indictment.

A fourth person, Anthony Murgio, who operated a Florida-based Bitcoin exchange service, is accused in a separate indictment of conspiracy.

Murgio and Aaron werepreviously linked to cyberattack on JPMorgan, which owns Chase Bank.

"We appreciate the strong partnership with law enforcement in bringing the criminals to justice," said JPMorgan spokeswoman Patricia Wexler.

"As we did here, we continue to cooperate with law enforcement in fighting cybercrime."

The people charged "orchestrated massive computer hacking crimes" from 2012 to mid-2015, according to the indictment.

Banks and brokerages

In October 2014, JPMorgan, revealed in an SEC filing that more than 70 million households and seven million small businesses may have had their private data compromised in a cyberattack.

At the time, the bank said, it hadn't seen "any unusual customer fraud related to this incident."

JPMorgan has since invested heavily in security and built a digital security team with ex-military cybersecurity experts. 

Last month, Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal and Barron's, said that hackers had intruded their networks, seeking contact and payment information for 3,500 customers.

Also last month, retail brokerage Scottrade said it had been the victim of a cyberattack in late 2013 and early 2014 that affected a system with data on 4.6 million clients.

Bharara will explain the charges during a press conference set for 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

source: Business insider