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Bank of NY Loses Tapes With 4.5 Million Clients' Data
Lucas123 brings news that Bank of New York Mellon Corp. has admitted they lost a box of unencrypted data storage tapes. The tapes contained personal information for over 4.5 million people. From Computerworld:
"The bank informed the Connecticut State Attorney General's Office that the tapes ... were lost in transport by off-site storage firm Archive America on Feb. 27. The missing backup tapes include names, birth dates, Social Security numbers, and other information from customers of BNY Mellon and the People's United Bank in Bridgeport, Conn., according to a statement by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.
This is (just) showing up the way business is done everywhere - on the cheap.
On the surface, all companies go to the trouble to look good - glossy ads, well appointed offices, important landmark locations, etc. But often, just like in a restaurant, out the back it's all dim lighting, rusty hinges, paint peeling off walls etc.
Now I'm not saying all companies, but companies of a certain culture. The rest of this comment was going to be total flamebait so I'll leave it there.
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
I've got karma to burn, I'll say it for you. This is the problem with MBAs who only watch the bottom line and "know the price of everything and the value of nothing". (stolen from someone on /. from a couple days ago. It's a great quote) The culture you're talking about is the culture of marketing and management making technical decisions they wouldn't dare have the guts to even try to explain to the average slashdotter. I guarantee somewhere there's an admin trying his best not to scream "I told you so". If there isn't, there should be one out of a job for sheer ineptitude. You don't store or transmit data in plain text, ever, period. Especially when it's actual customer information. For craps sake, I'm a developer and I know that much about administration. No, this was probably a decision made by someone who manages what they don't understand and can't be bothered to learn. Flame on.
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
That's nice for it. The question is how liquid are those assets and how much cash can it actually get its hands on at short notice. As banks in Britain have noticed, assets just ain't worth what they were.