It is a commonly held belief that buying insurance makes your home or vehicle better protected. This cosy assumption is now in doubt after the FSA imposed a record £2.3m fine on insurer Zurich for exposing its customers to the risk of burglary.
An allegedly relaxed attitude to data security saw Zurich lose track of 46,000 policyholders’ data – including personal identity and credit card details, addresses and household security information.
The FSA claims the loss of an unencrypted back-up tape on route to Zurich’s South African data storage centre in 2008 could have caused serious financial detriment to customers or even got them burgled.
Zurich claims it has seen no evidence to suggest that personal data was compromised or misused.
What, something like a thank you note from a burglar?
