German newspapers in data loss scandal

Deets of advertisers leaked onto the web

22 October 2008 11:15 GMT / By Katie Scott

OK so it's a relief that it's not the British government or the MoD this time, but yes, there has been yet another data loss scandal.

This time it's the publishing company behind the German news magazine Der Spiegel, which broke a story about T-Mobile losing customers' details only earlier this month, had the scoop on a data blunder by the German newspaper publisher Axel Springer.

It alleges that the personal details of thousands of people who placed classified advertisements in the publisher's newspapers have been found on the Internet.

A company spokeswoman confirmed the report and told Reuters that "the names, addresses, mobile phone numbers and bank account details for customers of the free weekly papers could be viewed online before the leak was plugged last month".

The problems were put down to an outside programming contractor but did not affect customers of the publisher's larger circulation papers.

Full tags

Software, Online, Der Spiegel