14 DAY TRIAL // Oh God, we saw so many similar situations in the past that I'm truly amazed companies/organizations handling important consumers details are still vulnerable to information leaking. So, in case the HMRC data loss or the numerous laptops left behind by officials were not enough, here's one more: HSBC, "the world's local bank," as they nicknamed themselves, has just lost a disk containing information of about 370,000 clients! According to a statement, the details were not encrypted, but protected by a password. Among the lost information, there were names, dates of birth and "whether or not a person smokes," Network World informs.
"The data, which was password-protected, includes names, life insurance cover levels, dates of birth and whether or not a customer smokes. There is nothing else that could in any way compromise a customer and there is no reason to suppose that the disc has fallen into the wrong hands," it is mentioned in a statement signed by the bank, according to the same source.
It's quite shocking that a bank, a financial institution which works with extremely important information, obviously belonging to consumers, consider that a password is enough for protecting the data. Yeah sure, but they plan to introduce encryption measures anytime soon.
"If we ever had to do it again, we would encrypt the information along with password protection," HSBC spokesperson James Thorpe said according to Computerworld. "We don't normally send information on hard copy, but usually send electronically through this secure network. But the system wasn't working the day this information needed to be sent to the reinsurer."
For those of you who have forgotten, although I highly doubt it's possible, HMRC, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, lost two CDs containing information of no less than 25 million people. So, what happens with today's security?