A company spokesman told The Register that transferring sensitive data customer on CD goes against its policy of using secure FTP tranfers. The data on the CD was not encrypted and also included names and home addresses. Virgin Media emphasised the blunder had been "isolated" and had never happened before.

The firm contacted the Information Commissioner's Office when it discovered the loss and took its advice on how to inform customers. It is paying for credit file protection for everyone whose banking information is now out in the wild, which means any fraud will be indemnified and credit histories will be unaffected.