TD Bank: Backup data lost in transit

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CHERRY HILL, N.J., Oct. 13 (UPI) -- TD Bank, headquartered in New Jersey and Maine, says two backup computer tapes that got lost in transit were not encrypted.

The tapes may have contained personal information for 267,000 of its 8 million customers, including names, addresses, and Social Security and account numbers, the Boston Herald reported Saturday. The bank says the tapes got lost while being shipped in March, but it waited until this week to notify customers because it was searching for them.

Rebecca Acevedo, a TD spokeswoman, said there was no sign any of the information has been misused, although accounts were being monitored. Affected customers were being offered a year of free credit monitoring.

"We're not classifying it as a data breach because no data has been lost -- the data is misplaced," she said.

The "misplaced" tapes could cost TD Bank nearly $43 million, or $160 per compromised data entry, the Ponemon Institute, a non-profit Michigan information security organization, said. TD Bank is the U.S. subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank of Canada. It operates branches in most of the northeastern states and Florida.