Carphone Warehouse suffers social media backlash after 2.4m customers’ data breached
Disgruntled Carphone Warehouse customers have hit out at the retailer after it admitted the details of around 2.4 million its customers may have been breached in what is one of the biggest recent cyber attacks in the UK.
Bank details, names, addresses and dates of birth were among the reams of personal data that could have been breached by what the retailer said was a “sophisticated” attack. Carphone Warehouse admitted the breach today (8 August) despite the discovering the attack on an IT system of one its UK divisions last week (5 August).
The affected division handles the sites OneStopPhoneShop.com, e2save.com and Mobiles.co.uk as well as services for iD Mobile, TalkTalk Mobile, Talk Mobile.
In a statement the retailer revealed that the personal details of as many as 2.4 million customers might have been breached. The credit card data of 90,000 customers “may have also been accessed”, the business added, despite the data being encrypted.
Carphone Warehouse has tasked a cyber security firm to detect the root of the attack, while the police and the Information Commissioner’s Officer have also been notified.
But It’s not just the internal implications of the attack the retailer will have to grapple. People have criticised the perceived lack of safeguards when it comes to protecting customer information at a time when high-profile cyber thefts are on the rise.
@medConfidential Anyone who thinks that any data, especially that in commercial environments, is secure, should consider CarphoneWarehouse.
— Peter (@Joskinesque) August 8, 2015
More ineptitude from one of the worst retail brands in the UK - Carphone Warehouse in customer data breach - BBC News http://t.co/YfNOxcxleC
— Ed Andersen (@edandersen) August 8, 2015
Should be called #Data Warehouse :-) 'Millions of #customers could be affected by @CPWTweets #cyber attack' http://t.co/w3s04vqKu7 #hackers
— Noel Carroll (@NoelCarroll5) August 8, 2015
All those customers who may been affected by the attack will be informed directly and offered advice, the company assured.
Sebastian James, chief executive of Carphone Warehouse owner Dixons Carphone, said: “We take the security of customer data extremely seriously, and we are very sorry people have been affected by this attack. We are, of course, informing anyone that may have been affected, and have put in place additional security measures.”
The retailer said the customer details of Currys, PC World and the “vast majority” of Carphone Warehouse customer data was held on separate systems and consequently had not been breached.