TalkTalk’s website is hacked in ‘significant and sustained attack’, 4 million customers affected
If you are a TalkTalk customer, it may be worth your while changing your login details and keeping a keen eye on your various accounts over the next few months, because the phone and broadband provider’s website was the victim of a ‘significant and sustained‘ cyber attack on Wednesday, October 21. The hack is believed to affect more than 4 million customers, with personal data such as bank details and birth dates being snaffled in the attack.
TalkTalk announced the website hack late Thursday evening. It’s believed that the attack could be the work of a Russian jihadist cyber terrorist group that has apparently leaked a small sample of the data grab to both prove its authenticity and claim responsibility.
TalkTalk believes the hackers accessed the following details:
- Customer names
- Addresses
- Dates of birth
- Email addresses
- Telephone numbers
- TalkTalk account details
- Credit card details and /or bank details
TalkTalk says it is working closely with Cyber Terrorism experts as well as the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit to find out exactly what the hackers accessed. Currently, the TalkTalk website has been secured, and UK banks have been informed to monitor customers accounts for suspicious activity. TalkTalk is also offering 12 months worth of credit monitoring for all its customers via Noddle.
There isn’t much that customers can do at the moment although if you use the same login details for multiple accounts, it might be worth doing something about that. TalkTalk has stated it will never contact customers via telephone or email asking for your bank account details, to download software onto your computer or to provide your full password. Chances are, if someone asks you for your full password/ pin number/ bank details, then they should not be trusted.
TalkTalk’s share price dropped by 10% when the London Stock Exchange opened earlier this morning, and it isn’t difficult to understand why. This latest security breach is TalkTalk’s third in 2015, with customer’s details having previously been stolen in August and in February.
All you, as a customer, can basically do is watch your accounts for any unusual activity. It also may be advisable to move your business to a company that takes the security of your personal details seriously. If you have any suspicions of fraudulent activity on your accounts, you should contact the UK’s national fraud and internet crime reporting centre, Action Fraud, on 0300-123-2040 or via its website – actionfraud.police.uk.
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