Virgin Media Loses CD Containing Customer Bank Details

UK telecoms and media firm, Virgin Media has admitted to losing a CD which contained the personal details of some 3,000 customers. The customers, all of whom had subscribed to Virgin's broadband internet service via the mobile phone retailer, Carphone Warehouse are being contacted by Virgin. The CD contained not just the customers personal address details though - it also included their bank account information.

The loss came to light on the same day that the UK government announced the results of a review into its loss of a couple of CDs containing the details of 25 million child benefit recipients.

The loss is understood to have occurred when a Virgin employee was traveling between two offices carrying the disc - a form of "sneakernet".

The company says that the employee broke company policy by burning the details onto a CD in the first place - although it could also be argued that the IT department should disable CD burners except for those people who actually need them. It is Virgin's company policy to only ever transmit customer data in an encrypted form and via secure internet link.

Virgin has however agreed to insure their customers against possible losses they may incur if their personal details are used by criminals.

A statement from Virgin Media read: "This is an isolated incident which has affected a small number of our customers," adding that "We have taken full responsibility and are very sorry for what has happened."

Carphone Warehouse is currently in the process of divesting its retail division into a separate company to be jointly owned with US retailer, Best Buy.

Virgin Media operates a cable TV and telecoms company, which includes the Virgin Mobile MVNO.

Posted to the site on 25th June 2008