The UK department of the global telecommunications giant, Vodafone, released a press release stating that, during a security breach on October 30, over 1,800 customer accounts have been accessed in an unauthorized manner by hackers.
Vodafone UK went through a rather painstaking procedure during the last weekend of October, as 1,827 of its accounts have been penetrated illegally. No hacking group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.
The people behind the attack managed to gain access to relatively sensitive info, such as customers’ names, phone numbers, bank sort codes and the last four digits of their bank accounts, whose significance is vital. The company says that no debit or credit card numbers have been stolen.
Vodafone UK mentions in the press release:
“Whilst our security protocols were fundamentally effective, we know that 1,827 customers have had their accounts accessed, potentially giving the criminals involved:
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The customer’s name;
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their mobile telephone number
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their bank sort code
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the last 4 digits of their bank account”
With the stolen info at hand, the hackers can not access these 1,827 customers’ bank accounts directly, though it can definitely leave them open to a selection of frauds, such as phishing, where having this type of info could ultimately make a fake e-mail asking for respective passwords look official.
“No credit or debit card numbers or details were obtained. The information obtained by the criminals can not be used directly to access customers’ bank accounts. However, this information does leave these 1,827 customers open to fraud and might also leave them open to phishing attempts.”
Thankfully though, the company figured out the security breach early enough, thus addressing the issue the fastest they could. Initially, the carrier blocked the affected accounts and then got in touch with the account holders, to update them and the banks where their accounts are registered about the situation, as well as help customers change the stolen info.
In order to resolve the issue to the maximum degree, which includes the ultimate protection of the customers and the potential identification of the hackers, Vodafone will be cooperating with the National Crime Agency, Information Commissioner’s Office and communications regulator Ofcom.
Source: Vodafone UK (press release)
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