There is no direct link between the data published on the internet by a hacker and the Belfius bank, said Monday evening the bank’s chief technology officer, Bram Somers. The Belgian media DataNews announced earlier today that the personal data of 300,000 Belfius bank customers had been put up for sale by a hacker on the internet.
According to the media, which analyzed the data put up for sale, the address and telephone number of certain customers are particularly visible. They also include the customer’s identity, date of birth, account number and IBAN. The list, however, does not contain financial details such as the status of accounts or transactions made, according to DataNews.
Call center data
The leaker claimed that the data came from call centers and that it had never been released this year, without specifying whether it was Belfius call centers or outside the bank . Belfius had initially indicated to Belga that it had no knowledge of a security problem or a data leak. After a detailed analysis, the bank now claims that there is no security problem to deplore within it.
“This is a larger issue and not a leak on our part“, said Monday evening the chief technology officer of the bank, Bram Somers.
According to a hacking specialist, Inti De Ceukelaire, the information published on the internet leaked via a worker from a Turkish or Kosovar call center, he wrote on Twitter. In addition to Belfius customer data, information related to ING customers would also have been published, according to him. “This does not mean that these call centers work for banks“, says the specialist.
“The seller (hacker, editor’s note) speaks of Belfius and ING on the basis of the SWIFT/BIC code (accounts, editor’s note) – many companies store this financial data without it coming directly from the bank.” “This is not a call center working for Belfius“, says the bank.
The data might have been collected during online purchases. “This confirms that Belfius has nothing to do with this situation.“The bank continues to monitor the situation closely and warns its customers once morest phishing attempts.