New data loss reported in a West Yorkshire building society

Dec 12, 2007 08:27 GMT  ·  By

We should really start getting used to it, because the data loss a.k.a. stolen laptops a.k.a. lost CDs a.k.a. employees' negligences make more and more victims all around the world. After millions of people were put at risk due to major data leaks, here comes another one: today, "The Press Association" reports that approximately 1,000 employees were affected by another data loss, after their information was lost somewhere in the building. I guess you must have a nice feeling knowing that details about your salary account are available to somebody else except you. However, the West Yorkshire-based Leeds Building Society said there's no reason to worry about it, as the lost information was not enough to allow an attacker access to the accounts.

In a statement sent to all the affected employees, the building society informed them that the data was still in the building, as there was no evidence that it managed to be accessed by somebody from outside.

"There has been a significant amount of disruption to achieve this in a short space of time and, whilst every care has been taken, some information is yet unaccounted for in the move from the 1st to the 4th floor", it was mentioned in the statement, according to "The Press Association". "This contains the details you receive on your payslip, some of which is already in the public domain (i.e. on cheques, in the telephone directory, etc)."

In case you're one of those affected by the data loss, you have nothing to do than to wait and hope the company will manage to find the information. Although the company underlines that fact that there's no need to worry about, because the details could not help an attacker invade their accounts, extra-care is recommended when accessing the salary bank accounts.

"We believe that the details are still in the building and are doing all that is possible to confirm this. The missing information is not sufficient in itself to allow an unauthorised person to access a building society or bank account but we ask that you are vigilant in regard to the account into which your salary is paid", the statement sent to the employees continued.