Credit card details of around 90,000 may also have been exposed, but The Guardian says this information was “stored in an encrypted form”.
Advertisement
It also provides services to iD Mobile, TalkTalk Mobile, Talk Mobile and some Carphone Warehouse customers.
Dixons Carphone group CEO Sebastian James said that the retailer is now in the process of contacting those affected and is reviewing its security.
Exasperated users took to Twitter to vent their frustration at the news the personal data – including credit card data – of around 2.5million customers had been accessed.
On Saturday, the UK-based mobile device retail giant released a statement indicating that both its websites and Internet services were penetrated by hackers in a “sophisticated cyberattack” discovered last Wednesday.
The data breach would leave majority of Carphone Warehouse customers unaffected.
Shares in the owner of Carphone Warehouse fell today after it revealed that the personal details of up to 2.4 million people may have been stolen when a division of the company was hit by a cyber attack.
At this time, the Metropolitan Police and the Information Commissioners’ Office are still investigating the attack and are focused on making sure that the hackers will be held accountable for the attack. The company said that it has not yet decided whether to compensate customers for this or not.
An ICO spokesman said Carphone, which detected a breach of its systems on Wednesday, had alerted watchdogs on Friday.
“Of course, companies need to understand the scope of the attack, but this exercise needs to be undertaken rapidly so that consumers can be engaged and supported in a timely way”, he added. The British company also said that it is issuing apology for the occurrence.
While closing down your Carphone Warehouse account isn’t really a good idea, you can take a few clever steps to ensure that anyone who has access to your private information will not be able to do much with it.
Advertisement
Carphone Warehouse customers should keep tabs on their bank accounts to ensure no unusual activity occurs and to notify their bank straight away if they see transactions they did not make. It should never be asked for, regardless of whether you’re affected or not.
