One million account details included in eBay auction of laptop

by Gill Montia

Story link: One million account details included in eBay auction of laptop

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), NatWest and American Express are the latest institutions to be standing in the dock over allegations of lax security around customers’ data.

The banks and credit card provider need to answer the astonishing accusation that the personal and account details of around one million customers were contained on a computer that has been sold on eBay for £35.

The data apparently includes bank account numbers, sort codes, credit card numbers, names, addresses, mobile phone numbers, signatures and even the maiden names of customers’ mothers.

IT manager, Andrew Chapman, is reported to have purchased the computer on eBay, from a former employee of Graphic Data.

The company, which is based in Shoeburyness, archives records for some of the UK’s leading financial organisations.

RBS and its subsidiary NatWest say they are investigating matters urgently and need to establish how many customers are affected before deciding how to proceed.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has also launched an inquiry.

The data loss could be the worst ever recorded in the UK and the ultimate scale of events is not yet clear because Graphic Data has admitted that it is still trying to locate a computer that is missing from the secure site that housed the laptop that made its appearance on eBay.