Personal data breaches – are they getting worse?
Over the past year or two consumer confidence when it comes to the safety of personal data has seriously waned, and this comes as no surprise given the number of serious personal data breaches that have come to light in the last year alone. Everything ranging from banks throwing customer account details into skips and bags outside or sending people’s account details to other customers from HM Revenue and Customs losing the bank details of twenty five million people has come to light over the past year.
With identity theft on the rise it is little wonder that this sort of crime is becoming a major concern for some people. Recently the three major credit reference agencies, CallCredit, Experian, and Equifax, have all announced that they are joining forces in order to make life easier for those that do become victims of identity theft and fraud. This is because the agencies plan to liaise with one another when they restore the files of those that have been victims of identity theft, which means that the consumer only has to inform one of the agencies.
However, whilst this is a move that has been welcomed by industry officials firms need to be doing more to ensure that the details of consumers are not being given away to complete strangers, which is what seems to have been happening. A recent case involving a computer that was sold on eBay has highlighted just how easily the details of millions of people can end up in the wrong hands, causing chaos for those affected.
A computer was bought by and IT Manager, Andrew Chapman, on eBay for £77 recently. However, upon investigation Mr Chapman was horrified to find that the hard drive of the computer contained the banking details of millions of consumers. Amongst the details were those of customers banking with NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland. According to reports the information included customer account details, signatures, mobile phone numbers, and even their mothers’ maiden names.
As soon as Mr Chapman realised that the data was on the computer’s hard drive he raised the alarm. He said: “I was appalled when I found the bank account information. That sort of thing shouldn’t have been listed on there.”
He added that anyone that knew a little about computers could have obtained the information, stating: “The information was in back-up CDs and in ISO files so it would have been possibly quite easy to find if you know something about computers.”
Officials from the financial institutions involved, which also included American Express according to reports, have taken the matter very seriously.
An American Express official said: “We are currently working as a matter of priority to establish exactly what data is impacted and identify the card members who may be affected.”
An official from an archiving firm said to have been involved, called Graphic Data, said that the firm is investigating how the computer came to be removed from a secure location and ended up on eBay.
Tags: Technology Internet, year, banking details, Mr Chapman, crime, bank account information, little wonderShe said: “The IT equipment that appeared on eBay was neither planned nor instructed by the company to be disposed.”
