Chapter 14 Blog

European Bank Customers, Information Unknowingly Sold on EBay

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1049121/Government-probe-launched-details-million-bank-customers-sold-eBay.html

Summary

The article that I have chosen to base my blog upon, was written by Dan Newling, and revolves around a mistaken but highly serious and expensive error. Andrew Chapman aka the hero of this story, purchased a seemingly outdated computer off of eBay for £35, but to his surprise, he discovered that the hard drive contained the personal data of over one million bank customers. (Computer later returned to rightful owner). The personal data consisted of clients from the following banks: The Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and American Express. The computer had belonged to Graphic Data (owned by Mail Source), which stores financial information for organizations and this incident was called an isolated but honest mistake. But not everyone agreed with that statement. Christopher Tomlins (NatWest client) when informed about the incident, said: “It is like they have given my house keys to a stranger and then said, “Help yourself”,” and also that if they wanted to get rid of the computer they should have just destroyed it. This incident is currently under investigation from The Information Commissioner’s Office as this is a case of a breach of the Data Protection Act. And is also being investigated by the government, RBS, NatWest and American Express to determine and fix the extent of the damage.

Connection

This news article connects with chapter 14, Cash Control and Banking, in two ways: the first being personal banking and the second being bank credit cards. From the perspective of the bank client, the bank is not fulfilling one of its principal services, the safekeeping of money. With new bank accounts being created on a daily bases ranging from basic banking to personal chequing accounts customers assume that their money is 100% safe, and banks can’t always do that. It also connects with bank credit cards as the personal information, on the computer provided the basis for creating thousands or even millions of counterfeit credit cards. With thousands or even millions of counterfeit credit cards out there, banks would see giant discrepancies in client’s accounts, possible bankruptcies, closing of accounts, loss of clients, and the highly unlikely scenario of the bank closing down.

Reflection

Firstly as a current bank account holder this news article makes me question the simple fact, just how safe is my personal information and ultimately my money. Something that I didn’t mention in the article was that personal data like account numbers, phone numbers, signatures, etc were not believed to be handled by third parties (Graphic Data), and this makes me question it even more. Although a bank can lure you into a false sense of security, there will always be the downside that they never reveal. That people and technology are and will never be 100% trustworthy or efficient. But this case can also be applied to the accounting world. For an accountant to reign over his competitors and be hired by a firm, they need to be reassured that he is worth the money. Or in other terms highly trustworthy and highly efficient, and not like Elton John`s former personal accountant.