Zurich Insurance Taking Flack for Data Loss

Zurich Insurance loses data of over 600,000 SA customers They reassure public that they take security factors very seriously.

While Zurich Insurance has been left red-faced over the unforgiveable loss of the financial and personal details of over 600,000 of its customers, the group continues to attract criticism by analysts and experts in the industry who question the security measures taken by the insurance company.

Zurich Insurance's Chief Executive of Europe, Annette Court, has admitted that the loss of the disc is "unacceptable" and reassured the public that the company takes its security factors very seriously.

"Protecting our customers' interest is at the top of our agenda," she said. "We are putting a great deal of investment into strengthening our internal processes to ensure that incidents of this nature do not happen again in the future.

Nevertheless, the very security measures employed by Zurich Insurance, that led to the loss of the information in the first place, have been questioned.

"I think it is dangerous to have data on one disc," said a UK based insurance expert, Mike Fry. "You cannot lose a computer because it is a big system that sits in one corner of the office. If you download that data to a back up company from machine to machine, then why are people downloading this stuff onto discs?"

"I think it is wrong that they are doing this, and I think the government needs to bring some sort of legislation in, even though they have been guilty of losing data themselves," added Fry, referring to the UK government.

All in all, the details of some 550,000 South African policyholders were lost, together with around 40,000 from Botswana and a further 50,000 customers who live in the United Kingdom.

Zurich Insurance has sent letters of apology to all those affected and has explained to them how to protect themselves.