NAB admits thousands had personal data breached, blaming ‘human error’

National Australia Bank says it is contacting 13,000 customers after a breach of personal data was uploaded without permission, blaming “human error”.

The National Australia Bank has admitted 13,000 customers had their personal data compromised. Picture: Hollie Adams/The Australian

National Australia Bank says 13,000 customers are being contacted after a breach where personal data was uploaded without permission to two data service companies.

Australia’s fourth-largest bank said yesterday that the breach was not a cybersecurity issue, adding that no log-in details or passwords were compromised.

“The issue was human error and in breach of NAB’s data security policies,” Chief Data Officer Glenda Crisp said in a statement on NAB’s website.

Thousands of NAB customers are being contacted about the data breach. Picture: David Clark

The data uploaded included customer names, date of birth, contact details and in some cases, government identity numbers, the statement added.

“There is no evidence to indicate that any of the information has been copied or further disclosed,” the lender said.

The data service companies told NAB that information they receive is deleted within two hours, it added.

Ross McEwan holds a press conference in Melbourne to announce his new position as Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of National Australia Bank. Picture: Stuart McEvoy/The Australian.

The breach comes a week after NAB hired Ross McEwan, the man credited with turning around Royal Bank of Scotland, as its new chief executive officer, as it hopes to win back customer trust after damaging findings in a public inquiry into the financial sector.

NAB was among the worst hit of the “Big Four” lenders, after the inquiry specifically cited its CEO and Chairman for failing to accept responsibility for the wrongdoings.

Both individuals resigned days later.

The lender said it has told regulators about the incident, including the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Originally published as NAB admits thousands had personal data breached, blaming ‘human error’