ISLANDERS are probably not at risk after a computer containing bank customers’ personal details was sold on Ebay, a Guernsey IT security expert has said. Carl Ceillam, pictured, from Ernst & Young, said there was no obvious link to the Channel Islands and the data was likely to be out of date anyway.

The computer had belonged to a third-party archiving firm called Graphic Data to store the details of more than one million RBS, NatWest and American Express customers.

It contained names, addresses, mobile phone numbers, bank account numbers, sort codes, credit card numbers, mothers’ maiden names and even signatures and was sold for just £35.

‘It’s impossible to say what effect this latest breach will have on people in Guernsey, as we don’t know how old the data is,’ said Mr Ceillam. ‘From what we understand, it involves some form of third-party archiving provider and it could be years out of date.’
He said security breaches were becoming more sophisticated and the business community needed to get a better understanding of data-protection rules.