Wells Fargo

When a lawyer for Gary Sinderbrand, a former Wells Fargo employee, subpoenaed the bank as part of a defamation lawsuit against a bank employee, he and Mr. Sinderbrand expected to receive a selection of emails and documents related to the case.

A Wells Fargo bank access code was used to steal the personal information of roughly 5,000 consumers, leading the bank to conduct a full-scale inquiry into the data breach.

The latest high profile leak to make headlines wasn’t the result of an attack, a security breach, or even a bug. Rather, the leak of thousands of sensitive documents from embattled bank Wells Fargo was the result of an accident. As the New York Times reported, “Wells Fargo … turned over — by accident, according to the bank’s lawyer — a vast trove of confidential information about tens of thousands of the bank’s wealthiest clients.”

Wells Fargo accidentally leaked thousands of sensitive documents, but not in the way you think. The bank wasn't hacked, and its computers didn't go on the fritz: it just inadvertently sent 1.4 gigabytes of files to a former financial adviser who subpoenaed the company as part of a lawsuit against one of its current employees.