# We’ve fixed an issue that meant we weren’t storing some customers’ PINs correctly

**URL:** <https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458>\
**Category:** News & Updates\
**Created:** [5 August 2019 12:24 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458 "2019-08-05T12:24:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bea](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/bea/32/29111_2.png) [@bea](https://community.monzo.com/u/bea)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 12:24 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/1 "2019-08-05T12:24:12Z")

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No information has been exposed outside Monzo, and there’s no evidence that this data has been used for fraud.

We’ve updated the app, and we’re about to contact some of you to let you know you should change your PIN as a precaution.

> **[We’ve fixed an issue that meant we weren’t storing some customers’ PINs...](https://monzo.com/blog/2019/08/05/weve-fixed-an-issue-storing-some-customers-pins/)**
>
> No information has been exposed outside Monzo, and there’s no evidence that this data has been used for fraud. We’ve updated the app, and we’ve contacted some of you to let you know you should change your PIN as a precaution.

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**Author:** ![anon16712584](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@anon16712584](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon16712584)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 12:38 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/2 "2019-08-05T12:38:14Z")

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I’d be curious to know how/why this only affects some accounts. Was it only logs from certain services that erroneously didn’t strip the PIN? How long has the issue existed?

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**Author:** ![priyesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4491bb/32.png) [@priyesh](https://community.monzo.com/u/priyesh)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 12:45 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/3 "2019-08-05T12:45:22Z")

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Yes, that’s right, only two features were affected by this issue:

- Getting a [reminder of your card number](https://twitter.com/monzo/status/1101062915380121600)
- [Cancelling a standing order](https://monzo.com/help/payments-getting-started/standing-order-cancel)

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**Author:** ![Rat\_au\_van](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/rat_au_van/32/49103_2.png) [@Rat\_au\_van](https://community.monzo.com/u/Rat_au_van)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 12:47 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/4 "2019-08-05T12:47:57Z")

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I’ve cancelled a standing order but haven’t had a message 👀

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**Author:** ![bea](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/bea/32/29111_2.png) [@bea](https://community.monzo.com/u/bea)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 12:48 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/5 "2019-08-05T12:48:49Z")

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We’re just about to start emailing people now

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**Author:** ![anon16712584](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@anon16712584](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon16712584)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 12:52 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/6 "2019-08-05T12:52:30Z")

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I’m now very curious as to why these services didn’t strip the PIN’s (though standing orders haven’t supported biometric auth on Android since it was introduced, so I have a feeling it hasn’t been touched since being implemented)…

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**Author:** ![SC95](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/sc95/32/30201_2.png) [@SC95](https://community.monzo.com/u/SC95)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:00 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/7 "2019-08-05T13:00:37Z")

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Got the email on this.

 ![IMG_20190805_135937](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/original/3X/f/3/f3058808d005fb3b34a2abfa3620cd36a4243cb1.jpeg)

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**Author:** ![Dan\_R](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/dan_r/32/13897_2.png) [@Dan\_R](https://community.monzo.com/u/Dan_R)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:04 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/8 "2019-08-05T13:04:05Z")

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Just got this email… instantly thought it was a scam!

I feel emailing customers this info isn’t the best way specially knowing how many scammy banking emails are sent daily…

I reported it to Customer Services before checking the blog… but seems its real… maybe an app notification would be better next time…

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**Author:** ![Rat\_au\_van](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/rat_au_van/32/49103_2.png) [@Rat\_au\_van](https://community.monzo.com/u/Rat_au_van)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:05 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/9 "2019-08-05T13:05:22Z")

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They’re asking you to change your PIN at an atm, what kind of scam would that be?

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**Author:** ![Ordog](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/ordog/32/22446_2.png) [@Ordog](https://community.monzo.com/u/Ordog)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:05 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/10 "2019-08-05T13:05:59Z")

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> [@Dan\_R](#):
>
> maybe an app notification would be better next time…

Agree.

I too received this and it was in my spam. Should I have not seen this thread (like a huge portion of customers won’t) I wouldn’t have known.

Not at all bothered about the security issue by the way and I appreciate the transparency but just better notification needed 🙂

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**Author:** ![Nathan564](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/nathan564/32/29423_2.png) [@Nathan564](https://community.monzo.com/u/Nathan564)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:06 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/11 "2019-08-05T13:06:32Z")

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I think an in-app notification would be a pretty good idea, how many people really check their emails, perhaps do both?

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**Author:** ![RichardL](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/richardl/32/96402_2.png) [@RichardL](https://community.monzo.com/u/RichardL)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:07 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/12 "2019-08-05T13:07:03Z")

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> [@Dan\_R](#):
>
> Just got this email… instantly thought it was a scam!

I thought the same actually but coming to the community was my way of checking.

I’ve got no issue with the way Monzo have handled this otherwise. Things go wrong sometimes, at least they’re putting it right instead of brushing it under the carpet.

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**Author:** ![robgill](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/robgill/32/2636_2.png) [@robgill](https://community.monzo.com/u/robgill)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:07 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/13 "2019-08-05T13:07:06Z")

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> [@priyesh](#):
>
> - Getting a [reminder of your card number](https://twitter.com/monzo/status/1101062915380121600)
> - [Cancelling a standing order](https://monzo.com/help/payments-getting-started/standing-order-cancel)

I’ve done neither of these, but i still got the email. Updating app is easy, but going to a cash point, man thats a ballache. Did this affect join account or solo accounts or both?

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**Author:** ![anon72173902](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@anon72173902](https://community.monzo.com/u/anon72173902)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:08 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/14 "2019-08-05T13:08:37Z")

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Thanks for the update I just changed my pin to 5947 💃

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dan\_R](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/dan_r/32/13897_2.png) [@Dan\_R](https://community.monzo.com/u/Dan_R)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:09 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/15 "2019-08-05T13:09:12Z")

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> [@anon72173902](#):
>
> Thanks for the update I just changed my pin to 5947 💃

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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**Author:** ![Wolf](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/wolf/32/52976_2.png) [@Wolf](https://community.monzo.com/u/Wolf)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:09 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/16 "2019-08-05T13:09:52Z")

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A feed item would also be a really good idea. That way even if you miss both you’d notice that when you next open the app.

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**Author:** ![Nathan564](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/nathan564/32/29423_2.png) [@Nathan564](https://community.monzo.com/u/Nathan564)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:10 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/17 "2019-08-05T13:10:39Z")

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Agreed, especially for something like this

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**Author:** ![Drew58](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/drew58/32/61892_2.png) [@Drew58](https://community.monzo.com/u/Drew58)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:12 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/18 "2019-08-05T13:12:00Z")

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This is not good. I don’t want to change my PIN because someone at Monzo has made a mistake.  
I’ve kept my side of keeping things safe doesn’t sound like Monzo have.  
I’m sure a few will disagree but I’m not the one who has done anything incorrect here.

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**Author:** ![kolok](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/kolok/32/46634_2.png) [@kolok](https://community.monzo.com/u/kolok)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:12 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/19 "2019-08-05T13:12:09Z")

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If I don’t change my pin and there is fraud is that called negligence, because the log files are encrypted and only some monzo staff _may_ have seen it?

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**Author:** ![Wolf](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/monzo/user_avatar/community.monzo.com/wolf/32/52976_2.png) [@Wolf](https://community.monzo.com/u/Wolf)\
**Post date:** [5 August 2019 13:16 UTC](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458/20 "2019-08-05T13:16:30Z")

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That’s an interesting question. It definitely seems reasonable to take the risk given the extremely low likelihood of anything bad happening (and the fact that any problems would be ‘on Monzo’). I doubt Monzo would support this, but then you wonder why resetting your PIN couldn’t be enforced?

I’ve seen lots of voluntary password and PIN resets in the past and never thought about this until now.

[Next page](https://community.monzo.com/t/we-ve-fixed-an-issue-that-meant-we-weren-t-storing-some-customers-pins-correctly/75458.md?page=2)
