Nationwide fined £1m over stolen laptopDetails on 11
million customers went awol
By Lester Haines
Published Wednesday 14th February 2007
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined The Nationwide
Building Society £980,000 for the loss of a laptop which contained
"confidential customer data" on 11 million customers.
The laptop was stolen from a Nationwide employee's home. Although
he quickly reported the theft, according to the BBC, he didn't tell
his employers what was on the machine until after a three-week
holiday, at which time Nationwide started an investigation.
What customer details the laptop contained is not clear. Although
Nationwide "claimed that the information on it could not have been
used for identity fraud as there were no PIN numbers, passwords or
account balance information on it", the BBC notes the laptop "may
have contained names, addresses and account numbers." Accordingly,
"customers had been exposed to the risk of financial crime".
The FSA found Nationwide was not aware the laptop "contained any
confidential customer information at all".
FSA enforcement director Margaret Cole said: "Nationwide is the
UK's largest building society and holds confidential information
for over 11 million customers. Nationwide's customers were entitled
to rely upon it to take reasonable steps to make sure their
personal information was secure."
The FSA further noted: "The failure to manage or monitor downloads
of very large amounts of data onto portable storage devices meant
that Nationwide had limited control over information held in this
way or how it was used."
Nationwide subsequently wrote to all customers apologising for the
cock-up. Chief exec Philip Williamson offered: "I wish to emphasise
that there has been no loss of money from our customers' accounts
as a result of this incident."
Nationwide declined to say whether the employee in question - who
apparently had legitimate access to the data - had been disciplined
or sacked. The laptop has not been recovered.
Fined 1m for 1 stolen laptop! 
