Information Commissioner's Office report on data breach surge

A recent report by the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK, has indicated that there has been a surge in data breaches reported to that office by the financial services industry.

The surge of 183 per cent includes 585 significant events reported to that office in 2014.

Multiple incidents have been reported by leading institutions, including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Natwest, Nationwide and Santander, over the past two years.

Almost 93% of these breaches were caused by human error, indicating the significant risk staff can pose to the reputations of companies.

In addition, the ICO has issued over £7.5 million in fines, which is expected to increase under the new General Data Protection Regulation, next year.

Interestingly, whilst legal firms have accounted for a third of the volume of reported data breaches, compared to the financial services industry, the Information Commissioner, Christopher Graham, issued a stern warning last August to law firms to improve on their data management practices.

No public statement has been issued to financial firms in a similar way as to law firms, which is a surprise considering the much higher volume of data breaches reported.