Insider fraud at HSBC’s Indian site underscores the need for security that extends to offshore locations

The practice of moving customer data to offshore sites has come under fire again after a security breach at HSBC’s offshore data processing site in Bangalore led to £233,000 reportedly being stolen from a small number of UK customers.

An HSBC spokesman confirmed the bank had commenced legal action against an employee who had passed customer information onto fraudsters, claiming that it would “pursue a conviction as aggressively as possible”.

He added that the fraud had been detected by HSBC’s security procedures and that all affected customers had been informed and reimbursed.

However, the incident is likely to increase pressure on HSBC and other UK firms with offshore data handling facilities to reassess security processes after reports claimed the HSBC employee had used false records to obtain the job.

http://www.itweek.co.uk/itweek/news/2159326/indian-breach-hits-hsbc