The number of people affected by the theft of four laptops containing personal details of thousands of Bank of Ireland customers has almost trebled, it was confirmed today.
The computers were stolen from employees up to 10 months ago but senior management were kept in the dark until February this year.
When the news was revealed, the bank initially said 10,000 customers had been affected. However, an investigation has revealed the laptops held information on more than three times as many people.
"The technical investigation has identified that details relating to 31,500 policies, policy applications and a small number of mortgage customers were contained on the stolen laptops," the bank said.
The new branches affected by the thefts are Bray, Ardee, Arva, Ashbourne, Athboy, Cavan, Bailieborough, Cootehill, Ballybay, Dunboyne, Carrickmacross, Ballyjamesduff, Oldcastle, Kells, Navan, Trim, Kill O' The Grange, Blackrock, Dun Laoghaire, Talbot Street, Greystones and Kingscourt.
The bank said a handful of other branches had a very small number of people affected who will be contacted directly.
Details of the theft emerged last week after the bank confirmed it had reported the embarrassing loss to the Financial Regulator.
But officials later said senior management had been unaware of the security breach for months and blamed a breakdown in communications.
Bank of Ireland Governor Richard Burrows put delays down to an internal bungle and said the controversy was extremely embarrassing and unfortunate.
The vast majority of people affected by the theft were either applying for life assurance or had already taken out policies.
Bank of Ireland again apologised and said the incident was very regrettable.
A helpline is being manned to support concerned customers while letters were today sent to those affected.
Customers will given an outline of what personal data relating to them went missing and can later obtain full details direct from the bank.
The bank revealed all laptops used by staff in its Life division have been encrypted and all laptops used by employees across the group will be encrypted by the end of May.
"The bank has briefed the Financial Regulator and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner on the latest developments and will be co-operating fully with the investigation," a spokeswoman said.
The Data Protection Commissioner is investigating the loss but it is understood the bank has not broken any rules under Ireland's data laws.
In Britain a much more serious security lapse left Nationwide Building Society facing a €1.2m fine after a laptop with data on 11 million customers was stolen.
The Bank of Ireland help-line can be reached on 1850 365 365. It will be open between 9.00am and 6.00pm from Monday to Friday.
PA