In May 2008 HSBC “lost” a server, an entire server, from the Kwun Tong office in Hong Kong. There are 159,000 customer records on the server. HSBC insisted that the chances of the data being misused were small as there were numerous “security” arrangements to prevent access, however all of these security controls are based on somebody trying to log on to the server. If somebody wants to access the data directly from the disks, normally the security becomes completely redundant.
This incident follows on from the an incident in June 2006 when HSBCÂ staff from an Indian call center stole data and used it to commit fraud. Later In 2008 HSBC lost CDs with 37,000 customer details on. In 2005 180,000 HSBC customers credit card details were exposed, and some of their accounts accessed.