The personal information of more than 2,000 people who applied online for a Citibank N.A. credit card could have been leaked as a result of a computer error, a Citibank executive said yesterday.
The company has suspended the service and will compensate customers if the data they supplied to the company has been leaked, said Victor Kuan (
"We closed this online credit-card-application service and the online customer-inquiry service right after we found the flaw," Kuan said.
"We have also begun to check the viewing records of more than 2,200 applicants ... to see if there is a possible leak of information, and if so, the number of customers' whose information has been leaked," Kuan said. "We should be able to get the result by the end of today."
Citibank started offering its online credit-card-application service on Aug. 4, with interest-free credit and other benefits.
But a Kaohsiung teacher, Tsao Chih-cheng (曹志誠), last week gained access to other applicants' personal information while applying online for Citibank's Clear Card.
Tsao told Chinese-language media yesterday that he had immediately informed the bank about the security flaw. But he said he could still browse other customers' information when he tried again on Monday.
Kuan yesterday admitted that there were serious errors in the bank's Internet security management and customer service. But he said that the system failure appeared only in its online credit-card-application service. Citibank's main computer system, which has survived several attacks by hackers hired by Citibank, was secure.
"Citibank will contact the customers whose information is suspected to have been leaked during the period from Aug. 4 to Nov. 11 ... and we will compensate these customers for losses resulting from the leak of information," Kuan said.
Cheng Jen-hung (
"According to Article 27 of the Law for the Protection of Computer-Managed Personal Information (電腦處理個人資料保護法), customers can claim compensation of between NT$20,000 and NT$100,000 for the financial losses or other losses resulting from the leak of their personal information," Cheng said. "We will also help the affected consumers claim their compensation through a class-action lawsuit."
The authorities, including the Bureau of Monetary Affairs, should strengthen their supervision over banks' online services to ensure that consumers' rights and interests are not infringed, Cheng said.
The bureau said it had ordered Citibank to close its online application service and suspended the bank's application to open other online services from yesterday, a bureau official said.
"We also asked Citibank to submit a report on its review of this incident and what improvement measures it will take to the Ministry of Finance by Nov. 18, " Huang Tien-mu (
Huang did not say what kind of punishment Citibank might face.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS