TD BANK ANNOUNCES DATA BREACH

 TD Bank recently began notifying approximately 260,000 customers in numerous states from Maine to Florida that their personal information had been lost.  A TD Bank spokesman confirmed to the Associated Press that unencrypted back-up data tapes were misplaced in transport earlier this year.  The tapes contained personal information that included account information and social security numbers.  TD Bank claims it is not aware of any misuse of customer information but has still not ruled out that possibility.  Notification letters are being sent to customers and free credit monitoring and identity theft protection is being offered.  

 This breach once again demonstrates that business entities and their insurers must encrypt all personal identification since its loss or theft will lead to significant data breach response expenses along with likely increased regulatory investigations.