Amex says its app and website trouble was an internal technical issue, not a hack. Expect some hiccups and longer waits on the phone, but no sign of exposed data.
Some American Express customers could not get the Amex app or website to work properly, and the company says it was not a security problem. A spokesperson told Gizmodo the disruptions were tied to "an internal technical issue," which is now resolved.
Certain features on the app and website went down on and off. Amex also warned that waits to reach a customer care agent may be longer than usual, and it apologized for the trouble. It has not said what the internal issue was. Gizmodo noted that the answer does not really clarify anything. It is also unclear how many people were affected. Reports on DownDetector, a site that tracks outage complaints, had dropped to double digits at the time of writing.
The outage drew suspicion because of timing. Security professionals are calling a current crisis "Black October," after critical flaws were found and patched in PHP, a programming language used across a large part of the internet. Cloudflare's CEO said there have been millions of hacking attempts over the past day. Now almost every online glitch gets linked to it. Amex says its problem was not caused by a security vulnerability.
Nothing in the report suggests account data was exposed, so most cardholders can stay calm. The alert box above lists a few simple steps worth following, including watching for fake messages that claim to fix the outage. What remains unknown is the exact cause, and Amex has not offered more detail.
Amex says the outage was an internal glitch, not a hack, so retry later, check your activity and ignore messages offering outage fixes.
A viral ChatGPT prompt turns what the chatbot remembers about you into a room image. Posting it publicly could give scammers clues to target you.
Read more: Viral ChatGPT room image could hand scammers clues about youA message saying your Amazon account was hacked is often the scam itself. Checking in the Amazon app first can protect your card, gift balance and phone.
Read more: If Amazon says your account was hacked, check before you callThe Attala County Sheriff's Office in Mississippi says scam calls are reaching residents, and a call that sounds official may not be.
Read more: Mississippi sheriff warns residents about scam phone calls
