Investigators from TalkTalk and the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit reported Saturday, however, the security breach was limited to the surface website and not its core systems, where most private data is stored. Investigators are still trying to ascertain if the customers’ bank details are part of the information that was stolen.
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TalkTalk said on Friday it had received a ransom demand from an unidentified party for the attack, which has led to calls for greater regulation of how companies and public bodies manage personal data.
The FT said legal experts have estimated that, under a worst-case scenario, compensation claims from the hack could total over GBP20.0 million. The hack also represents the fact that hackers are increasingly able to break into high-profile companies and steal information about their customers.
The firm revealed it had received a ransom note amid reports of bank accounts being cleared out, emails hacked and fraudulent phone calls.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, Harding said that her company was under no “legal obligation” to encrypt sensitive customer data, such as bank account details.
“Yes, we have been contacted by – I don’t know whether it’s an individual or a group purporting to be the hacker”.
“You expect that the companies you use, you expect them to take the proper precautions”, TalkTalk customer Hilary Foster told ITV.
The telecoms giant announced last night that it had been subject to a “significant and sustained” cyber attack on Wednesday morning. “They appeared to know all about us and asked my husband to start the computer up and it went on from there”, she said. However, the company was yet to reveal exactly how many of its customers were at risk of being targeted by scammers following the raid on its website.
Harding said that “with the benefit of hindsight”, it was evident that TalkTalk had not done enough to protect itself.
“The United Kingdom is a world leader in the digital economy, so we urge the government and companies to work together to make us the world leader in countering the scourge of cyber-crime”.
She added: “They said my account doesn’t run out until July 2016 so I’d have to pay an early-leaver penalty”.
No arrests have been made.
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Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said complaints by customers that TalkTalk had “covered up” the seriousness of the attack should be investigated.
