Sensitive personal details of more than 2,000 customers of online insurance brokers Quote Devil may have been compromised after the online broker emailed policy information and renewal documentation to the wrong people, The Irish Times has learned.
The company confirmed the data breach but stressed that it had affected only a small number of customers. While a spokesman said he was unable to give an exact figure for “legal reasons”, he suggested it affected less than 1 per cent of clients.
With a customer base above 230,000, that could mean well over 2,000 people were sent policy details of others.
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One customer who was alerted to the data breach by Quote Devil said she was “raging” and unsure exactly how much information about her had been sent to a third party.
In the email she received from the online broker, she was told that “due to a technical error, some clients’ home renewal information was sent to the wrong email address. We have identified the number of affected individuals and can confirm that your documentation has been issued to another customer”.
In a statement to The Irish Times, the company subsequently confirmed the breach which it said occurred on March 1st when “a small number of Quote Devil customers had their renewal information sent to other clients. This was due to a technical error in the dispatch of home insurance renewal emails. The team here discovered the issue and immediately made sure to contact those customers affected, as well as notifying the Data Protection Commission. We investigated and identified the error and took steps to ensure it cannot happen again. We understand the seriousness of the matter and wish to apologise again to customers who were impacted.”
The statement stressed that it was “fortunately a one-off incident that only affected a very small proportion of the customers that Quote Devil supports for their insurance needs. And though all customer data is important, we would like to emphasise that no special category data was shared”.
It concluded by saying the company was “committed to the highest standards of data protection and privacy. We have already implemented rigorous measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future. Our team takes our GDPR responsibilities seriously, and we remain dedicated to upholding the trust and confidence of our customers.”
Quote Devil was set up in 2006 and is one of the most well-known insurance broker brands in the Republic selling home, car, van and travel insurance. It was sold in 2022 to the Three Rock Group, which also owns chill.ie.
At the time of the sale, Quote Devil reportedly had about 7 per cent of the Irish insurance market amounting to about 230,000 customers.
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