Tweet
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8492911.stm
A "printing error" has revealed Skipton Building Society customers' names, account numbers and balances on the back of other people's statements.
Customers whose details have been exposed are receiving letters offering a change in their account number.
The Skipton, which has apologised for what it described as a "third party error", said not enough detail was revealed to put accounts at risk.
The error affected passbook accounts which are not accessible online.
These accounts also require a signature for withdrawals so any fraudster would need to build up more details in order to access an account.
Apology
This is the latest in a series of incidents by a variety of institutions that have exposed people's personal details.
In the Skipton case, 3,115 customers received the statements with other customers' names, account numbers and balances on the reverse. One BBC News website reader said that the details of his account were on the back of his wife's statement.
The building society said this was a small proportion (just under 3%) of the mailing list of 108,000.
"This did not include the other customers' addresses, date of birth or other identifying details. The risk to affected customers is negligible because of this," a spokeswoman for the Skipton said.
"Nevertheless, we have written to those affected to apologise and to reassure them that the correspondence contained insufficient information to enable any unauthorised transactions on their accounts.
"We are also offering to change the account numbers of any customers seeking additional peace of mind."
She added that the regulator - the Financial Services Authority - had been told of the incident.
The Skipton has not commented on its contract with the printers, describing it as a commercial matter.
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office said that they would be contacting the Skipton to find out what steps were being taken to ensure this did not happen again.
"In this case, it appears the information disclosed does not allow for fraudulent activity on customers' accounts. However, it does call into question the security policies in place to ensure information is kept safe and secure," the spokesman said.
"Even when the breach occurs as a result of third parties processing personal information, the data controller responsible for the information should ensure the necessary security policies and procedures are in place and that all employees are made aware of them."
Other cases
News of the error, which occurred in January, comes shortly after a database glitch involving another financial services provider.
This left NatWest customers with Visa Debit cards unable to make payments to Egg credit cards via Egg's website for more than two months. Egg said it was rectifying the problem.
In July 2007, Abbey's online banking system suffered technical problems, which meant some users were randomly shown details relating to other customers.
Last month, Skipton Building Society hit the headlines when it announced it would raise its standard variable rate from 3.5% to 4.95% on 1 March in order to protect the interests of savers.
It is removing the ceiling on the standard variable rate that guaranteed the rate would be no more than 3% above the Bank rate - which is currently at a record low of 0.5%.
The Skipton, the UK's fourth largest building society, has 750,000 savers and 100,000 borrowers.
CJ
A "printing error" has revealed Skipton Building Society customers' names, account numbers and balances on the back of other people's statements.
Customers whose details have been exposed are receiving letters offering a change in their account number.
The Skipton, which has apologised for what it described as a "third party error", said not enough detail was revealed to put accounts at risk.
The error affected passbook accounts which are not accessible online.
These accounts also require a signature for withdrawals so any fraudster would need to build up more details in order to access an account.
Apology
This is the latest in a series of incidents by a variety of institutions that have exposed people's personal details.
In the Skipton case, 3,115 customers received the statements with other customers' names, account numbers and balances on the reverse. One BBC News website reader said that the details of his account were on the back of his wife's statement.
The building society said this was a small proportion (just under 3%) of the mailing list of 108,000.
"This did not include the other customers' addresses, date of birth or other identifying details. The risk to affected customers is negligible because of this," a spokeswoman for the Skipton said.
"Nevertheless, we have written to those affected to apologise and to reassure them that the correspondence contained insufficient information to enable any unauthorised transactions on their accounts.
"We are also offering to change the account numbers of any customers seeking additional peace of mind."
She added that the regulator - the Financial Services Authority - had been told of the incident.
The Skipton has not commented on its contract with the printers, describing it as a commercial matter.
A spokesman for the Information Commissioner's Office said that they would be contacting the Skipton to find out what steps were being taken to ensure this did not happen again.
"In this case, it appears the information disclosed does not allow for fraudulent activity on customers' accounts. However, it does call into question the security policies in place to ensure information is kept safe and secure," the spokesman said.
"Even when the breach occurs as a result of third parties processing personal information, the data controller responsible for the information should ensure the necessary security policies and procedures are in place and that all employees are made aware of them."
Other cases
News of the error, which occurred in January, comes shortly after a database glitch involving another financial services provider.
This left NatWest customers with Visa Debit cards unable to make payments to Egg credit cards via Egg's website for more than two months. Egg said it was rectifying the problem.
In July 2007, Abbey's online banking system suffered technical problems, which meant some users were randomly shown details relating to other customers.
Last month, Skipton Building Society hit the headlines when it announced it would raise its standard variable rate from 3.5% to 4.95% on 1 March in order to protect the interests of savers.
It is removing the ceiling on the standard variable rate that guaranteed the rate would be no more than 3% above the Bank rate - which is currently at a record low of 0.5%.
The Skipton, the UK's fourth largest building society, has 750,000 savers and 100,000 borrowers.
CJ
