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Thousands of debit and credit card holders in Newcastle could be hit by a breach of security in a town hall computer.
Thousands of debit and credit card holders in Newcastle could be hit by a breach of security in a town hall computer.
Police and security experts have been called in after details of 54,000 residents' cards were downloaded to an address in the Middle East.
As a result of the mistake, millions of financial records held by Newcastle City Council have been accessed.
Information was placed in error on an open server site which could be accessed by outsiders instead of a secure network.
The site was shut down as soon as the problem was discovered last week.
Council leader John Shipley said: "This is an extremely serious breach, which I was shocked to hear about."
"On learning of this for the first time late last Thursday, the chief executive immediately ordered an urgent and thorough investigation, with the police and independent security experts."
"Also, straight away he put in place additional measures to strengthen security. Leading councillors were briefed on Monday as the investigations proceeded."
"My first concern is that every possible measure should be put in place now to protect people whose data might have been compromised, and we have communicated this to the banks and credit card companies."
Copyright - Press Association 2007
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