Private data sold on eBay, admit banks
Account holders’ personal details have been found on a computer sold on eBay, banks said yesterday, adding to growing fears over data security.
Details of more than a million customers of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), American Express and NatWest were found on the computer sold for £35 on the auction and shopping website.
RBS said the information included historical data related to credit card applications and data from other banks, but would not disclose further details.
Names, addresses, mobile phone numbers, bank account numbers, sort codes, credit card numbers, mothers’ maiden names – and even signatures – were left on the hard drive.
The information was being held by archiving firm Graphic Data, which copies paperwork for some of Britain’s biggest financial organisations and stores it digitally.
A former employee sold the computer earlier this month without removing the information. The personal information was discovered when the buyer, an IT manager, looked at the hard drive.
“Graphic Data has confirmed to us that one of their machines appears to have been inappropriately sold on via a third party,” RBS said.
“As a result, historical data relating to credit card applications from some of our customers and data from other banks were not removed.”
Graphic Data said: “The IT equipment that appeared on eBay was neither planned nor instructed by the company to be disposed. Investigations are ongoing to find out how this equipment was removed from a secure location.”
RBS said it was working to resolve “this regrettable loss with Graphic Data as a matter of urgency”.
The incident is the latest in a string of mishaps involving sensitive personal information by government and businesses.