Qatar National Bank Reportedly Breached

The largest lender in the Middle East and Africa by assets may have become the victim of a cybersecurity data breach.

Qatar National Bank (QNB) is looking into allegations that the names and passwords of many of its customers were compromised, Reuters reported on Wednesday (April 27).

The Doha News website reported that 1.5 GB of leaked documents disclosed some customers’ bank information, telephone numbers and dates of birth. The outlet said information of several Al-Jazeera journalists, government and defense officials and even members of the ruling al-Thani family were made available within the compromised data.

QNB confirmed to Reuters that its investigation into “social media speculation in regard to an alleged data breach” was ongoing but assured “all concerned that there is no financial impact on our clients or the bank.”

“I’ve been thinking about moving my deposits out of Qatar for a while and will definitely advance this more quickly now,” an expatriate banking official told Reuters. “If others get the same idea, then this could be painful for the bank.”

Earlier this year, QNB became the first bank in Qatar to provide NCR interactive video teller technology.

The new offering enables QNB customers to access a self-service banking experience beyond the traditional banking hours and allows a live teller to take remote control of the ATM to assist customers with up to 95 percent of traditional transactions typically completed by tellers inside a branch.

“The Interactive Teller enables the migration of routine, expensive transactions from the teller counter at the branch to the ATM channel, giving financial institutions the combined benefits of personalized services, lower processing costs, faster transacting and smaller footprint branches,” George Flouros, NCR VP for Middle East and Africa region, said in a statement at the time. “QNB will now be able to give its customers live, face-to-face interaction with experienced tellers at the Interactive Teller, delivering a highly personalized and secure banking experience for customers, beyond traditional banking hours.”