250 gigabytes of Brazilian banking user data exposed in new leak

A financial service provider’s unprotected server reportedly lead to 250 gigabytes of banking customers’ personal information has been leaked in a new breach.

Data Group, a security research firm, detected the breach, reports ZDNet, the tech news site. While it is still unclear how many customers were affected by the 250 gigabyte leak, it has been linked to several banks with a massive part relating to Banco Pan, a local firm.

The exposed data included scanned IDs, social security cards, documents provided to prove where people lived and service request forms filled in by customers

Banco Pan has stated that the server did not belong to the company and that none of its infrastructure was breached. Instead, the exposed server was supposed to be managed by a commercial partner. The bank has promised to take appropriate measures if the data is misused.

Failing to comply with regulations regarding cybersecurity can be costly. Equifax, a credit score company, found that out in July 2019 when it had to pay a minimum settlement of $565m for a breach that happened in 2017. The breach impacted 147 million people. The Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and 50 US states and territories backed the fine.

More companies are recognizing the importance of being serious about their digital defenses. It is one of the reasons why investment in cybersecurity within RegTech is on the rise. FinTech Global’s latest research unearthed the fact that 21.3 per cent of the investment into the sector between 2014 and 2019 went into cybersecurity companies. Moreover, the percentage of the investment into the RegTech sector has jumped from 18.4 per cent in 2014 to 36.9 per cent in the first six months of 2019.

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