Summary Box: UK regulator fines Zurich Insurance $3.5 million for losing customer data

Summary Box: UK fines Zurich Insurance $3.5M

THE FINE: Britain’s financial regulator has imposed a record fine of 2.275 million pounds ($3.5 million) on Zurich Insurance PLC for losing confidential data on 46,000 customers.

BACKGROUND: Zurich Insurance outsourced some data work to its South African unit, which lost an unencrypted back up tape in August 2008. The loss wasn’t discovered until a year later.

THE RESULT: Identity information was lost as well as details of bank accounts, credit cards and insured assets. There is no evidence the data has been misused. The company says the incident was unacceptable and it is appointing a dedicated information security officer to insure compliance.