Bank of New York Mellon in data breach

BOSTON (Reuters) - Bank of New York Mellon Corp lost the Social Security numbers and other information of about 4.5 million customers when a box of data storage tapes went missing in February, Connecticut's attorney general said.

"I am alarmed and deeply concerned by a recent and serious data breach at The Bank of New York Mellon involving the loss of computer backup tapes," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said in a statement on Wednesday.

The computer storage tapes were unencrypted, containing sensitive information of 4.5 million consumers, he added.

Bank of New York Mellon, one of the world's largest asset managers, said an archiving vendor lost the tapes containing information from its Shareowner Services unit.

"Shareowner Services has no evidence suggesting that any of the data has been inappropriately accessed or used. Communications with affected clients and shareowners include that assurance," BNY Mellon said in a statement.

(Reporting by Jason Szep, editing by Tim Dobbyn)