Banks say rumor of account details leak totally false
By Xu Chi |
December 30, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THREE of China's biggest banks have denied an online rumor that more than 100 million bank account details, including passwords, had been leaked onto the Internet.
Bank officials told Shanghai Daily that account passwords were encrypted in their databases making it "impossible" for staff to see them.
They claimed the leaked accounts were fakes that did not exist and said they would work with police to find out who was responsible for the rumor and who had uploaded the false details.
The rumor first appeared on IT news website aitike.com, which reported yesterday that more than 70 million bank accounts had been leaked from the Bank of Communications and more than 35 million from China Minsheng Banking Corp.
The website published a screenshot showing bank card numbers, user names and passwords. It said account details from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China had also been leaked.
Privacy scandal
The story quickly spread online, stirring panic as many people believed it to be true in the wake of a nationwide privacy leak scandal where more than 90 million website passwords had been leaked online by hackers.
An ICBC official surnamed Wang told Shanghai Daily that the story about leaked account details was totally untrue.
"All the passwords of user accounts are encrypted so no one can view them in clear text in the bank's system," said Wang. "Technically, only bank account users know their passwords, otherwise the banking industry would be a total mess."
Wang said the bank had investigated some of the card numbers provided by the website and found they didn't exist in the bank's database.
The other two banks published announcements on their websites yesterday afternoon, saying that their investigations had also found the rumor to be false.
"The bank is paying high attention to account security and uses encryption technology to ensure account safety," said the Bank of Communications. "Those who made up and spread the rumor to disturb the banking industry may face legal punishments."
Under cameras
But there was concern online about whether bank staff could leak users' card numbers or sell personal information.
Bank officials admitted that staff could see customers' card numbers and their names, but the concern was unfounded.
"Staff have to work under cameras every day and those who are found leaking any private information will be fired and face legal punishments," said an official surnamed Wang with ICBC Shanghai.
"So far we have not found any worker leaking private information," she said.
Last week, hackers posted details of more than 90 million user profiles from Chinese online forums and social network sites on the Internet.
Among them were 40 million user profiles complete with user names and passwords from Tianya.cn, one of the country's biggest online forums, which has more than 60 million users. The others were from IT websites and social networking sites.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China punished an announcement on Wednesday, warning websites to tighten user profile security.
Bank officials told Shanghai Daily that account passwords were encrypted in their databases making it "impossible" for staff to see them.
They claimed the leaked accounts were fakes that did not exist and said they would work with police to find out who was responsible for the rumor and who had uploaded the false details.
The rumor first appeared on IT news website aitike.com, which reported yesterday that more than 70 million bank accounts had been leaked from the Bank of Communications and more than 35 million from China Minsheng Banking Corp.
The website published a screenshot showing bank card numbers, user names and passwords. It said account details from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China had also been leaked.
Privacy scandal
The story quickly spread online, stirring panic as many people believed it to be true in the wake of a nationwide privacy leak scandal where more than 90 million website passwords had been leaked online by hackers.
An ICBC official surnamed Wang told Shanghai Daily that the story about leaked account details was totally untrue.
"All the passwords of user accounts are encrypted so no one can view them in clear text in the bank's system," said Wang. "Technically, only bank account users know their passwords, otherwise the banking industry would be a total mess."
Wang said the bank had investigated some of the card numbers provided by the website and found they didn't exist in the bank's database.
The other two banks published announcements on their websites yesterday afternoon, saying that their investigations had also found the rumor to be false.
"The bank is paying high attention to account security and uses encryption technology to ensure account safety," said the Bank of Communications. "Those who made up and spread the rumor to disturb the banking industry may face legal punishments."
Under cameras
But there was concern online about whether bank staff could leak users' card numbers or sell personal information.
Bank officials admitted that staff could see customers' card numbers and their names, but the concern was unfounded.
"Staff have to work under cameras every day and those who are found leaking any private information will be fired and face legal punishments," said an official surnamed Wang with ICBC Shanghai.
"So far we have not found any worker leaking private information," she said.
Last week, hackers posted details of more than 90 million user profiles from Chinese online forums and social network sites on the Internet.
Among them were 40 million user profiles complete with user names and passwords from Tianya.cn, one of the country's biggest online forums, which has more than 60 million users. The others were from IT websites and social networking sites.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China punished an announcement on Wednesday, warning websites to tighten user profile security.
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