A computer sold on auction site Ebay turned out to be holding the personal details of more than a million UK bank customers, reports the Daily Mail, in one of Britain’s worst cases ever of data loss.
Stored on the hard drive was highly sensitive information on American Express, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland , including names, addresses, mobile phone numbers, bank account numbers, sort codes, credit card numbers, mothers' maiden names and even signatures.
The banking information was being held by the archiving firm Graphic Data, which stores paperwork from some of Britain's biggest financial organisations. A former employee sold it on Ebay for just £35.88 earlier this month, without first erasing the internal hard drive.
Last night it was revealed that a second computer from the same site has gone missing, meaning yet more information could have been leaked.
Buyer Andrew Chapman, a 56-year-old IT manager from Oxford, discovered the information. He said: "I couldn't believe it. In front of me was reams of extremely confidential information about thousands and thousands of people."
American Express and NatWest/RBS said they needed to establish how many customers are affected before deciding how to proceed, but it is likely that everyone whose details have been exposed will be forced to change their credit cards and bank accounts. The companies involved could also be fined. X |