Zurich Insurance Reprimanded for SA Data Loss

March 25 - In August 2008, Zurich Insurance South Africa lost the personal financial data of 46,000 policy holders during the transfer of the information to a storage centre.

The incident was only reported to the parent company, Zurich Insurance one year later.

This week, the Information Commissioner's Officer in the UK, found that Zurich Insurance was in breach of the Data Protection Act for losing the information.

An undertaking was signed between the UK branch manager of Zurich Insurance, Stephen Lewis and the Information Commissioner's Office, where the company vowed to improve its information security after the incident.

Lewis stated that before any data is moved, all security procedures will be followed, including the use of encryption.

The Head of Enforcement and Investigations at the ICO, Sally-Anne Poole said that it wasn't only Zurich Insurance that should heed the special safeguards that have been established to keep financial and personal data safe.

"It is vital that organizations ensure that effective safeguards are in place to protect personal information," she said. "Failure to adequately protect personal details could lead to information falling into the wrong hands and ultimately the loss of customers' trust and confidence."

There is no evidence that any of the lost data has been misused by falling into the wrong hands, however all Zurich Insurance customers were written to and told to take special precautions just in case.

"I am pleased to see that Zurich Insurance Plc has taken remedial steps to ensure individuals' personal details are protected in future," said Poole.