Absa suspends employee over customers data breach
Absa Bank is pressing criminal charges against an employee who has subsequently been suspended for illegally accessing and sharing customer information with third parties, the bank said yesterday, according to a Business Day report.
The development came to light following an article published in Business Insider saying the bank had started contacting clients to inform them that some of their information has been compromised.
In response to questions from Business Day, the group confirmed the leak saying it ‘relates to a small portion of Absa SA’s customer base, although investigations continue. Absa has enhanced the monitoring of customer accounts that have been affected to date, and are contacting customers directly,’ it said.
The quantum and composition of the data shared remains unclear at this stage, but it is understood that the employee did not breach the bank’s systems to obtain the information, but instead abused their position to access the data and provided it to third parties.
On discovering the breach, Absa suspended the employee and sought and obtained court orders to seize the employee’s devices.
All customer data found on the employee’s devices has been destroyed.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
