TSB customers affected by data breach are likely to have a claim for compensation

Potentially millions of TSB customers have been affected by a massive computer failure caused by an upgrade to its computer system going wrong over the weekend.
 
Widespread media reports suggest that customers experienced a range of problems, including not being able to use internet banking or the mobile app services for their accounts.  In addition, customers have reported transactions that they had not made being logged into their accounts as well as being credited with sums of money which were later deleted.  Even more worryingly, customers have reported seeing other customers’ bank details when they logged into their accounts, including the other customers’ account numbers, sort codes and transaction histories.
 
Sean Humber, an information law specialist at Leigh Day has commented:
 
“Most people consider their financial details as being amongst the most sensitive information about them and rightly expect their banks to safely guard this highly confidential material.  In this case, the TSB seems to have failed in its responsibility to protect this information.
 
“Given the continuing uncertainty, the TSB needs to contact each of its customers as soon as possible to confirm whether or not it believes that their bank account details were wrongly disclosed to anyone else without their knowledge or permission.  If so, it then needs to confirm that nothing untoward has happened to these accounts as well as what action it is now taking to reduce the risks of future problems as a result of the unauthorised disclosure.”
 
“Affected customers are likely to have claims for compensation for the misuse of their personal information, breach of confidence and breach of the Data Protection Act.”