Dixons Carphone opens hacking investigation as 5.9m cards are compromised
Dixons Carphone has become the latest business to fall victim to hackers after uncovering ‘unauthorised data access’ to its systems by unknown parties, thought to be an attempt to compromise 5.9 million cards stored in one of its processing systems for Currys PC World and Dixons Travel.
Dixons Carphone opens hacking investigation following attempt to access 5.9m cards
The breach has prompted a major security review at the retailer which has employed cyber security experts to shed light on the nature of the hack and beefed up its own security measures to prevent a repeat.
Dixons Carphone insist that no evidence of fraudulent use of any data obtained in this way has been found so far, with 5.8 million of the cards in question carrying chip and pin protection, with no associated pin codes or authentication data accessed these should be safe.
Of greater concern are 105,000 non-EU issued payment cards which do not benefit from such protections, forcing the retailer to contact all contact all card issuers directly to take appropriate protection measures.
Dixons Carphone chief Executive, Alex Baldock, commented: "We are extremely disappointed and sorry for any upset this may cause. The protection of our data has to be at the heart of our business, and we've fallen short here.
“Cyber crime is a continual battle for business today and we are determined to tackle this fast-changing challenge."
In another blow to confidence in Dixons Carphone the investigation also found that 1.2 million records containing personal data including names and email addresses were also access although there is no evidence that it has been downloaded or misused in any way. Nevertheless Dixons Carphone will contact each of those affected individually to apologise and suggest measures to prevent misuse of the data.
Other businesses to be targetted by hackers in recent months range from WPP to Uber.
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