According to a Freedom of Information request by Egress Software Technologies, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office notched up 791 breaches in this sector between 2012 and 2014, including 585 in 2014 alone.
The company has clarified that not all of these were security-related – the figure for data security issues was 158: Institutions reporting breaches in these years included Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, Nationwide and Santander.
Egress chief executive Tony Pepper said: “Today’s report casts some major concerns over the mistakes they’re making with the information entrusted to them, whether that be citizens’ personal details or highly confidential reports about the economic future of the country. “It is staggering to see financial services firms reporting more than three times the number of incidents than the legal sector, which has recently come under fire from the ICO. “It is interesting to note that the monetary penalties issued by the ICO to this sector have historically been so low.”
Pepper said the rise in breaches should be triggering alarm bells everywhere, as once the EU General Data Protection Regulation – still making its long, slow path through the Brussels machine – is passed, the sector could face meltdown.
Under the new laws, far more severe penalties could be levied against miscreants than are currently being dished out by the UK regulator.
Source: Cyber Security Intelligence
