SHOCKER: Bank loses disc of data

When companies lose data these days we barely bat an eyelid. The fact that there’s been so much data misplaced, lost or stolen in the last 6 months in particular means we’ve sort of lost all faith in those who hold the key to our private data. Should we all just accept the fact that our data is not safe in anyone’s hands but our own ?

HSBC is making the news again this week after it’s e-payment system was on the blink for nearly 3 days last weekend. The system went down on Friday and stayed down for the entire weekend. Not only that but retailers are also saying that the HSBC didn’t really do much to let them know about the problem. Ohh, er.

This week the HSBC has admitted it lost a disc containing the data of over a quarter of a million customers nearly four weeks ago.

The disc was lost when it was sent to a reinsurer with an external courier. It appears that the company just seem to have lost track of the disc while it was getting from A to B. Oops.

The disc contained the names, dates of birth and insurance cover levels of 370,000 people with life assurance at the bank, generally linked to a mortgage.

HSBC has informed the Financial Services Authority (FSA) about the breach but it is not yet known if the disc was misplaced because of lax security.

A spokesperson for the bank told the Daily Mail that the possibility of someone being able to use the information on the discs for identity fraud is limited. He also said that there was no information on customers’ bank accounts or details such as addresses on the disc.

Read the full story on the DailyMail.