Santander bank says data breach compromised European employees and customers

Banco Santander S.A. said it experienced a data security incident that compromised the sensitive personal information of all of its employees and some customers in Europe.

 

Banco Santander S.A., doing business as Santander Group, is considered as one of the largest financial organisations globally with presence in North and South America and continental Asia apart from its European banking operations.

 

In a recent announcement, Santander said that it recently became aware of an unauthorised access to a Santander database hosted by a third-party provider. The organisation immediately launched an investigation and implemented measures to contain the incident, including blocking the compromised access to the database and establishing additional fraud prevention controls to protect affected customers.

 

“Following an investigation, we have now confirmed that certain information relating to customers of Santander Chile, Spain and Uruguay, as well as all current and some former Santander employees of the group had been accessed,” reads the announcement.

 

The bank added that the compromised database did not contain any transactional data, or any credentials that would allow unauthorised transactions to take place on accounts. This includes online banking details and account passwords.

 

Also, Santander’s operations and systems are not affected by the data security incident, so customers can continue to transact securely. The bank has also assured its customers and employees in all other regions that their data is safe and is not affected by the incident.

 

The financial organisation has not shared any details on the nature of the compromised data or the identity of the attackers. It is also in the process of identifying the number of affected individuals.

 

“We apologise for the concern this will understandably cause and are proactively contacting affected customers and employees directly. We have also notified regulators and law enforcement and will continue to work closely with them,” Santander added.