Data Protection Notice from O2

In the summer of 2012, O2 Ireland's IT support partner, IBM, informed us that a tape used for routine daily IT back-up work had been misplaced in September 2011. While the tape remains unaccounted for it is possible that the tape has simply been misplaced within an otherwise secure location in O2.

Once O2 was made aware of the incident it immediately launched an investigation to find out what kind of information was on the tape and to verify whether it could be found. O2 also notified the Data Protection Commissioner of the incident and has been working with them closely since.

O2 takes data security very seriously and while it believes there is a low risk to customer data privacy as a result of this incident, as a precaution, we are taking this opportunity to inform customers, existing and former.

The data on the tape, which relates back to 2011, contained a snapshot of information held on some of O2's own internal company drives at the time, and was in a format which is not accessible to someone trying to access it and requires specialist technology to extract any readable information from it. We are not aware of any incident since the tape was misplaced whereby data that might have been on the tape was accessed or used.

O2 sincerely apologises to its customers that the incident in question occurred. We also want to reassure customers that stringent measures have since been taken to ensure such an incident does not happen again.

FAQs

1. What has happened exactly?

In the summer of 2012, O2's IT support partner, IBM, informed us that a tape used for routine daily IT back-up work had been misplaced in September 2011. While the tape remains unaccounted for it is possible that it has simply been misplaced within an otherwise secure location in O2.

2. What information is on the tape?

The tape in question was part of a set of tapes used for daily backups of O2's systems and contained a snapshot of data at a particular moment in time, including files from O2's internal corporate drives. While it is possible that it could contain some personal data, it is more likely that it simply contained information about O2's normal business affairs and company information. While the tape has been lost, it is likely still in an O2 building. As a result we believe there is a low risk to customer data privacy.

3. So how many customers' details are on the missing tape?

While we can't be definitive on that we believe there is a low risk to customer data privacy. The tape in question was one of a number produced on a daily basis containing a snapshot of certain data held on some of the company's systems at a particular moment in time. Some back-up tapes don't contain any customer data at all.

4. What steps have you put in place to ensure it doesn't happen again?

We have undertaken a full review of the process around the handling of back-up tapes to ensure this does not happen again.

5. Was the tape encrypted?

No. However the data on the tape is in a format that is not accessible to someone trying to access it and requires specialist technology to extract any readable information from it.

6. Has this ever happened to O2 before?

No.