Data Theft - A Piece Of Christmas Cake

[Amadeus]

A few days ago, this happened in ze heimatland:

 

Berlin Bank Accused of Country's Largest Data Leak

 

Consumers in Germany have been affected by what is being calling the country's largest data leak. A Berlin bank has reportedly lost data on thousands of credit card customers -- including their PIN numbers.

 

Strictly confidential information on over 10,000 credit card customers of the Landesbank Berlin (LBB) was anonymously sent to the Frankfurter Rundschau, the newspaper claimed on Saturday, Dec. 13.

 

Because the LBB is the country's largest creditor, said the paper, many customers of other banks are also affected by the data breach.

 

Customers' names, addresses, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, transaction information and -- in some cases -- PIN numbers were included on the micro-fiches the Frankfurter Rundschau had received.

 

The case "overshadows all previous cases in size and especially in the quality of data," Thilo Weichert, director of the Independent Center for Privacy Protection in Schleswig-Holstein, told the Berliner Zeitung. He said the LBB mishap was an "unbelievable and unique case."

 

 

Big panic & huge investigation ensued - how, why, when - cops & data protection peeps in overdrive, the bank in dire need to explain.

 

Turns out today, the bank did everything right - no mole or spy, no undercover reporter or criminal forces involved - only two hungry guys working at a courier service:

 

 

Credit-card data theft a piece of cake

 

Berlin - A stolen Christmas cake led to a parcel of credit- card records from a bank being sent anonymously to a German newspaper, triggering a major data theft scare, prosecutors said Friday. Two couriers admitted gobbling up the cake that was in a package adressed to the Frankfurter Rundschau daily last week, a spokeswoman for the Frankfurt prosecutor's office said.

 

In order to cover their tracks, the two drivers took another parcel meant for the Landesbank Berlin and simply affixed a new label with the name of the newspaper on it, she said.

 

They were unaware the parcel contained documents detailing credit- card transactions with card numbers for tens of thousands of customers as well as personal identification number (PIN) envelopes.

 

A major scare erupted over the weekend after the newspaper published details of the anonymous package, fuelling concern that customer privacy had been breached.

 

Police said the documents appeared to have gone missing during transport from a back-office company in Frankfurt, Atos Worldline, to LBB in Berlin.

 

 

Which proves: You can't have your Christmas cake and eat it....

 

Also proves that any data is only as secure as the weakest link in the chain that handles it...