The Office of the Data Commissioner is considering a preliminary report on the data breach at the Clare firm, Loyaltybuild, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.
An inspection team, he said, had confirmed the extent of the breach, in which the full card details of over 376,000 customers were taken. An estimated 80,000 of those were Irish customers, he added.
“The initial indications are that these breaches were an external criminal act,’’ said Mr Gilmore.
He said a follow-up investigation would be undertaken and the Garda was also involved.
The Tánaiste was replying in the Dáil today to Fianna Fail leader Micheál Martin, who warned that people’s confidence in online banking would be shattered. “Banking crime is not something new,’’ he added. “What we are now witnessing are faceless criminals, who do not have to resort to armed robberies any more, who can rob literally hundreds of thousands of people through breaching data and hacking into various systems.’’
Mr Martin said it was urgent that the Government indicated it had a grip on the issue.
