Australia’s Biggest Bank Lost Records For 20M Accounts

Australia's biggest bank has admitted to losing the financial records of almost 20 million customer accounts after a subcontractor lost two magnetic tape drives containing the data in 2016.

The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) confirmed the news on Thursday after Buzzfeed News exposed the breach, reporting that 12 million Australians -- or half the Australian population -- was affected. 

In a statement, CBA said the data included customer names, addresses, account numbers and 16 years of transaction information used to print customer account statements (dating from 2000 to early 2016). CBA said it informed Australia's Privacy Commissioner when it became aware of the breach in May 2016, but "a decision was made not to alert customers."

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