19
Mar
2010
HSBC Data Breach, Worse than Originally Reported
HSBC has revealed that a former employee stole the personal details of about 24 000 clients of its private bank in Switzerland in a major security breach three years ago, reports the Financial Times. HSBC said a data theft it uncovered last year was far more serious than it first thought. Initially the bank believed that fewer than 10 customers had been affected. Europe’s biggest bank revealed that Hervé Falciani, a former computer spec ialist who fled to France, had stolen the details from its Geneva private bank three years ago. The breach, which affected 15 per cent of HSBC’s total private client base, will come as a serious blow to the reputation of the bank. They have since spent in excess of $93M on security and software upgrades to their system.
We are hearing of more and more high profile security breaches in the news. There was a report that came out a couple weeks back indicating the cost for notification and investigation of a breach is $250 per person. It’s important to stop and think about who has access to your business data, how they have access to it, and what are the possibilities? Laptops stolen out of a cars and disgruntled employees wanting to take revenge are the most likely scenarios we discuss with our clients. We constantly stress the importance of having Network Security coverage as part of your Technology Errors & Omissions policy. Theft of data is taken very seriously by the date and federal government. A solid network infrastructure protecting data could keep your business from high dollar notification costs, reputation damage and lost revenue.
