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26/08/2008
Sensitive Customer Data Sold On Auction Site
Bank details of over one million customers have been discovered on a computer sold on eBay.
The PC - sold for £35 - had sensitive information on the hard drive, comprising bank customers' private information.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and its subsidiary, Natwest, have confirmed their customers' details were involved.
RBS said an archiving firm had informed it that the PC had apparently been "inappropriately sold-on via a third party".
A RBS spokesman said: "Any breach of these procedures is totally unacceptable and is investigated as a matter of urgency."
The information is believed to include account details and in some cases customers' signatures, mobile phone numbers and code words such as mothers' maiden names.
Mail Source, which is part of the archiving firm Graphic Data, said it was investigating how the computer equipment had been removed from a secure location.
A spokeswoman said the incident was "regrettable" and "every possible step" was being taken to retrieve the data and ensure it was "an isolated incident".
It is understood the problem came to light when Andrew Chapman, an IT manager from Oxford, bought the computer, noticed the data and raised the alarm.
An spokesman for auction website eBay said "clearly such details should never have been included in the hard drive of the computer".
"We will of course work with Graphic Data to establish how it came to be available for sale on our site".
Banks are obligated under the Data Protection Act to keep all personal information secure.
In April, HSBC said a computer disc containing details of nearly 400,000 customers went missing after being sent via a Royal Mail courier.
Last December, Norwich Union Life was fined £1.26 million pounds by the regulator for exposing its customers to the risk of fraud.
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake has called for a "cultural change" among banks and in government when dealing with sensitive information to prevent the current "slapdash" approach.
See: HSBC Loses Customers' Details Disc
(DS)
The PC - sold for £35 - had sensitive information on the hard drive, comprising bank customers' private information.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and its subsidiary, Natwest, have confirmed their customers' details were involved.
RBS said an archiving firm had informed it that the PC had apparently been "inappropriately sold-on via a third party".
A RBS spokesman said: "Any breach of these procedures is totally unacceptable and is investigated as a matter of urgency."
The information is believed to include account details and in some cases customers' signatures, mobile phone numbers and code words such as mothers' maiden names.
Mail Source, which is part of the archiving firm Graphic Data, said it was investigating how the computer equipment had been removed from a secure location.
A spokeswoman said the incident was "regrettable" and "every possible step" was being taken to retrieve the data and ensure it was "an isolated incident".
It is understood the problem came to light when Andrew Chapman, an IT manager from Oxford, bought the computer, noticed the data and raised the alarm.
An spokesman for auction website eBay said "clearly such details should never have been included in the hard drive of the computer".
"We will of course work with Graphic Data to establish how it came to be available for sale on our site".
Banks are obligated under the Data Protection Act to keep all personal information secure.
In April, HSBC said a computer disc containing details of nearly 400,000 customers went missing after being sent via a Royal Mail courier.
Last December, Norwich Union Life was fined £1.26 million pounds by the regulator for exposing its customers to the risk of fraud.
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake has called for a "cultural change" among banks and in government when dealing with sensitive information to prevent the current "slapdash" approach.
See: HSBC Loses Customers' Details Disc
(DS)
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