Genuine Office 2010 The Irish Times - Thu, Mar 11,

Thu 03 Mar 2010Data theft affected 24,000 HSBC accounts
HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, mentioned a theft of information by a former employee impacted as much as 24,000 Swiss client accounts,Office Professional 2007 Key, dealing a hefty blow for the status of its non-public financial institution.
The lender had previously explained "less than 10 clients" ended up affected soon after Herve Falciani - a former HSBC pc specialist - stole customer info through the bank which he handed more than to French tax authorities.
“The theft, which was perpetrated by a former IT employee about three years ago, involves approximately 15,Office 2010 License,000 existing clientele who had accounts with the bank in Switzerland before October 2006," HSBC explained in a statement.
On top of that, up to 9,000 accounts that had been closed in the past ended up impacted. These accounts often were not big enough to be eligible for non-public banking services, the bank stated. It has 100,000 consumers in Switzerland.
HSBC shares were down 0.4 per cent at 1034 GMT, just underperforming the European banking sector.
The controversy comes at a sensitive time for the secretive sector - which serves rich clients - with countries sometimes using stolen customer info to chase tax evaders,Windows 7 X64, a practice one Swiss lawmaker has likened to lender robbery.
Swiss banking giant UBS has seen billions of Swiss francs of client money gush from its wealth management operations amid repeated blows to its status from a high-profile US tax case and massive writedowns that forced it to accept a government bailout in the crisis.
Germany's finance minister,Genuine Office 2010, Wolfgang Schaeuble, raised the bar in the fight against tax evasion further last month, saying Berlin was prepared to pay for stolen information on potential tax cheats at an unnamed Swiss lender.
HSBC explained in December that an ex-employee had stolen info from its Swiss non-public bank's headquarters in 2006 and 2007, but said towards the best of its knowledge fewer than ten customers were involved.
HSBC "unreservedly apologised" to consumers for the threat to their privacy on Thursday,Microsoft Office Pro 2010, but explained Swiss authorities said they will not support the use of the stolen knowledge to answer requests from foreign authorities about tax issues.
Mr Falciani is also reported to have attempted to sell the information to Germany for €2.5 million, which tax investigators there estimated could rake in €100 million for German coffers.
Alexandre Zeller, chief executive of HSBC's personal financial institution in Switzerland, stated Mr Falciani transferred knowledge onto a computer other than the one the financial institution issued him and fled to neighbouring France while under investigation.
Data theft risk was endemic to the business, Mr Zeller explained, adding that the lender had already added protection against this with USB keys and other technologies.
"We will always have new threats and we always have to invest more to ensure the IT security is all it can be," Mr Zeller mentioned. "At the end of the day, whatever you do, the human factor will remain. Private banking is a business of trust."
The stolen client information is limited to accounts in Switzerland, excluding ex-HSBC Guyerzeller accounts.
Reuters