Fergie's Tech Blog

Wells Fargo Not Required to Encrypt Data

Declan McCullagh writes on C|Net News:

Wells Fargo had hired Regulus Integrated Solutions to print monthly statements for certain customers who had mortgages and student loans from its subsidiaries. In October 2004, thieves stole computers from Regulus with unencrypted customer information including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and account numbers.

A few weeks later, Wells Fargo alerted its customers and offered to provide identity protection services.

There has never been any indication to date that thieves did anything with the data (in other words, they appear to have been after the computer hardware instead).

Nevertheless, two of the bank's customers, Kristine Forbes and Morgan Koop, filed a class action suit anyway. They claimed that Wells Fargo was liable for emotional distress (including fear, anxiety and worry), negligence, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty. Forbes and Koop claimed that Wells Fargo owed them a cash payout because they had to spend extra time monitoring their credit reports.

posted by Fergie @ 4/14/2006 02:08:00 PM