Saturday October 8, 2011 : Catlett's departure follows publicity on massive security breach last year
The exposure by the Telegraph newspaper this week of a massive security breach at Betfair has been followed by news that the betting company's security chief, Sean Catlett, is leaving the company at the end of October.
Company officials have denied that his exit is linked to the publicity on the security breach, which occurred in the spring of 2010 and involved the theft of more than two million "encrypted payment card account numbers and details"; more than three million "account user names with encrypted security questions"; and nearly 90,000 "account usernames with bank account details".
It is claimed that Betfair recovered the data and that damage was minimal, but the company has been criticised for not informing its clients of the breach at the time.
The Telegraph revealed that security specialists Information Risk Management had concluded that "appropriate information security governance is not in place within Betfair and as a consequence the business has been exposed to significant risks".
The Telegraph reported this week that more than 20 security personnel have left Betfair since the security breach occurred.