Bank loses tapes with data on 4.5M clients

**Glaswegian** · 05-30-2008, 02:25 PM

Bank of New York Mellon Corp. officials last week confirmed that a box of unencrypted data storage tapes holding personal information of more than 4.5 million individuals was lost more than three months ago by a third-party vendor during transport to an off-site facility.

The bank informed the Connecticut State Attorney General's Office that the tapes belonging to its BNY Mellon Shareowner Services division were lost in transport by off-site storage firm Archive America on Feb. 27. The missing backup tapes include names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and other information from customers of BNY Mellon and the People's United Bank in Bridgeport, Conn., according to a statement by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

Archive America refused to comment about the missing backup tape, citing confidentiality agreements. A People's United Bank spokesman could not be reached for comment.

BNY Mellon Shareowner Services, which includes handling employee stock option plans, said that it has begun notifying affected clients. It contended that none of the unencrypted data has been accessed or used.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...ce=rss_topic17

**Cellus** · 05-31-2008, 11:05 AM

None of the unencrypted data was accessed or used? Even though they have no idea where it is, who has it, or anything? Psshh.

This is another hard-line example of why businesses need to encrypt confidential information.

05-30-2008, 02:25 PM	#1 (permalink)
Glaswegian Moderator/ Rangemaster TSF Academy; Analyst, Security Team; Oor Wullie; TSF Surgeon and Resident Comic Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Glasgow Posts: 25,499 OS: Win XP Pro SP3 / Win 7 Pro My System Blog Entries: 10	Bank loses tapes with data on 4.5M clients Bank of New York Mellon Corp. officials last week confirmed that a box of unencrypted data storage tapes holding personal information of more than 4.5 million individuals was lost more than three months ago by a third-party vendor during transport to an off-site facility. The bank informed the Connecticut State Attorney General's Office that the tapes belonging to its BNY Mellon Shareowner Services division were lost in transport by off-site storage firm Archive America on Feb. 27. The missing backup tapes include names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and other information from customers of BNY Mellon and the People's United Bank in Bridgeport, Conn., according to a statement by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. Archive America refused to comment about the missing backup tape, citing confidentiality agreements. A People's United Bank spokesman could not be reached for comment. BNY Mellon Shareowner Services, which includes handling employee stock option plans, said that it has begun notifying affected clients. It contended that none of the unencrypted data has been accessed or used. http://www.computerworld.com/action/...ce=rss_topic17 __________________ Iain - Defender of the Haggis and all things Scottish. I don't help by PM - post in the Forums. PC Safety & Security::PC running a bit slow?::Donate::Photographers Corner

05-31-2008, 11:05 AM	#2 (permalink)
Cellus Moderator Networking Team Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 2,664 OS: Windows Vista Business SP1, Windows XP Professional SP3 My System	Re: Bank loses tapes with data on 4.5M clients None of the unencrypted data was accessed or used? Even though they have no idea where it is, who has it, or anything? Psshh. This is another hard-line example of why businesses need to encrypt confidential information. __________________ TSF Networking Team Virus/Trojan/Spyware Removal Help Donate!