[ad_1]
Absa Bank is filing criminal charges against an employee who was subsequently suspended for illegally accessing and sharing customer information with third parties, the bank said Tuesday.
The development came to light after an article published today in Business Insider that reported that the bank has begun contacting customers to inform them that some of their information has been compromised.
In response to emailed questions, the group declined to provide information on the amount of the leak at this stage, as the investigation is ongoing. Instead, it stuck to its description of “a very small portion” of its customer base when it comes to how many customer accounts were compromised.
Absa confirmed that some of the illegally shared data included sensitive information, as well as a more marketing-oriented combination of data.
“The types of data that were shared include, for example, first and last names, identification numbers, physical addresses, bank account and / or credit card numbers, mobile contact numbers and vehicle details. The data that was shared does not include passwords or PIN codes, ”said the bank.
Absa has improved the monitoring of customer accounts that have been affected to date and is contacting customers directly, ”he said.
It is understood that the employee did not violate the bank’s systems to obtain the information, but abused his position to access the data and provided it to third parties.
Upon discovering the violation in late October, Absa suspended the employee and sought and obtained court orders to seize the employee’s devices. All customer data on employee devices has been destroyed.
This comes a few months after data for millions of customers, some of which included bank accounts, was fraudulently obtained from the Experian credit bureau.
To update: December 1, 2020
This article has been updated with comments from Abs.a
[ad_2]
