News

HSBC admitted today (7 April) that a computer disk containing 370,000 customers’ details went missing weeks ago, while on its way to Folkestone.

A computer disc containing the name, date of birth and health information on 370,000 people went missing after January 31, when staff at HSBC's Southampton office used Royal Mail to post the disc to the Folkestone office of Swiss Re, the reinsurer, because the usual electronic transfer system had broken down.

HSBC, whose website includes a section telling customers how to keep their online data safe, is now likely to face a big rap on the knuckles from the FSA, which has already fined Norwich Union (£1.26m) and Nationwide (£980,000) for not protecting its customers' data properly. Its case won’t be helped by the fact that although the data was password-protected, it wasn’t encrypted, as required by the Information Commissioner’s guidelines.

The bank was playing down the impact of the loss, saying that the disc ‘contains no address or bank account details for any customer and would therefore be of very limited, if any, use to criminals’.

This was presumably meant to be reassuring, although customers whose details are about to prove ‘a bit’ or even ‘slightly’ useful to hi-tech fraudsters may beg to differ. However, as HSBC was also quick to point out, ‘there is no reason to suppose that the disc has fallen into the wrong hands.’