JP Morgan Chase has thrown out 2.6 million customer
account details with the rubbish.
The bank’s Chase Card Services arm in the US was responsible for
the latest data loss debacle to hit corporate America.
The lost details are for 2.6 million current and former Circuit
City credit card account holders.
The computer tapes containing their personal information were
mistakenly identified as trash and thrown out, said JP Morgan
Chase.
Working with federal and local law enforcement agencies, Chase
Card Services conducted an investigation and believes that the
tapes, contained within a locked box, were compacted, destroyed and
are buried in a landfill site where its trash was taken.
Chase said it “has been monitoring all of the affected accounts
and has not identified any misuse of personal information connected
to this occurrence. No other Chase accounts are involved in this
incident.”
Rich Srednicki, chief executive officer of Chase Card Services,
said, “We deeply regret that this has occurred and apologise to
those impacted. We have found no evidence that the tapes or their
contents have been accessed or misused. The privacy of our
customers' personal information is of utmost importance to us, and
we take the responsibility to safeguard this information very
seriously.”
To prevent a similar incident in the future, said Chase, the
company has strengthened a number of security procedures and is
currently conducting a comprehensive review of all data storage and
protection processes.
In addition, Chase will continue to closely monitor all affected
accounts.
Notification to all affected individuals has begun and will take
up to three weeks to complete, said the bank. A one-year, free
credit monitoring service is being offered to individuals whose
social security number was on the tapes.
Vote for your IT greats
Who have been the most influential people in IT in the past 40
years? The greatest organisations? The best hardware and software
technologies? As part of Computer Weekly’s 40th anniversary
celebrations, we are asking our readers who and what has really
made a difference?
Vote now at:
www.computerweekly.com/ITgreats