Absa has notified customers of a data breach potentially compromising their personal information.

The Johannesburg, South Africa-based financial services group, which provides personal and business banking as well as wealth management services, has pointed the finger at an employee for the security incident.

Absa maintains a presence in 12 countries across the continent and accounts for roughly 42,000 employees.

As reported by local publication MyBroadband, Absa sent an email to customers on Monday informing them of the data breach. The message said that personally identifiable information (PII) belonging to clients was exposed to “external parties.”

“We regret to notify you that Absa has identified an isolated internal data leak whereby personal information of a limited number of Absa customers was shared with parties external to the bank,” the financial group said.

ID numbers, contact details, physical home addresses, and account numbers are thought to have been compromised. Absa has not revealed if any other sensitive, financial data was involved in the data leak.

By Charlie Osborne, ZDNet, 2 December 2020

Read more at ZDNet

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