The Central Bank of Brazil reported that a data leak occurred on the 4^th of December. According to the statement made by the Central Bank, the incident is a result of operational error during publishing the survey results.

The Central Bank of Brazil publicly announced that a data leak took place on the 4^th of December. The Central Bank published results of the survey “Brazilians and the use of means of payment,” which analyzes the public opinion and relations to the means of payment in Brazil. Due to an operational error, the publication contained survey results as well as personal data of 1 500 people who participated in the survey. The incident was detected on the same day, and the post was immediately removed.

According to the statement, original publication included such information as:

• Name
• Address
• Telephone number
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Age
• Education
• Marital status
• Income level
• Employment status
• And financial habits

The Central Bank of Brazil claims that publication didn’t include sensitive financial data such as passwords, information on account balance or movements of financial resources, or any other data under banking secrecy. Moreover, the Central Bank issued alerts to all affected persons and emphasized the risks of potential frauds that could potentially use leaked information.

The Central Bank informed that it already carried out a complex of corrective actions in accordance with the LGPD, or Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados, Brazilian General Data Protection Law. This incident highlights the importance of personal data protection, especially for financial institutions, and the need for a careful and scrupulous approach to the data processing and usage.