It has now confirmed that hackers managed to get hold of the personal details of 156,959 customers, and in one in ten cases, their bank account numbers and sort codes. TalkTalk’s stock has also become a favorite of short sellers, who expect its value to continue to decline in the wake of the breach, Financial Times reports.
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TalkTalk stated it had now contacted all customers whose financial details have been accessed.
Reading TalkTalk’s statement I find it hard to feel that they aren’t trying to put a positive “spin” on things – they claim “only 4%” of customers were affected, and play down the risks posed by a few of the stolen data.
The 21 October attack was described as “significant and sustained”, and there were initial fears that millions of people had their bank details stolen.
It added: “We believe we had a responsibility to warn customers ahead of having the clarity we are finally able to give today”.
Two teenage boys from Northern Ireland and West London have since been arrested in connection to the hack.
But while hackers also managed to grab 28,000 credit and debit numbers, these had been “orphaned” from other details, so customers can not be identified by the stolen data.
Its Chair, Jesse Norman MP, said: “The recent events have highlighted serious issues relating both to existing cyber-security and the response to cyber-crime”.
Then there’s the fact this whole debacle is serving as a reminder to the general populace of how much they hate telcos – the dire customer service, the sneaky fee rises.
Shares in the company rose this morning after the update revealed that the breach didn’t affect as many people as previously expected. “Nor will more laws make companies necessarily more secure, particularly if the focus in those companies is on being compliant with laws and regulations”, he says. He says he raised concerns with chief executive Dido Harding’s office previous year, but that this clearly failed to result in adequate action.
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Is TalkTalk the only company to have been targeted by online attacks?
