Sustained Cyber Attack Helps Hackers Steal Data of 4 Million TalkTalk Customers
Hackers targeted TalkTalk, one of UK’s biggest telecommunications providers, and stole data of more than 4 million customers. TalkTalk, which suffered third major data breach, blamed a “significant and sustained cyber attack” on its website.
The data breach was announced on Thursday by TalkTalk CEO, Dido Harding. She said that they had informed law enforcement authorities and had started notifying affected clients.
She also said that she had an email demanding a ransom from a group purporting to be behind the cyber-attack suffered by the company. She did not know whether the ransom email was genuine.
The Met Police said the email was “forming part of its investigations”.
Ms Harding told the BBC: “It is hard for me to give you very much detail, but yes, we have been contacted by, I don’t know whether it is an individual or a group, purporting to be the hacker.
“All I can say is that I had personally received a contact from someone purporting – as I say I don’t know whether they are or are not – to be the hacker looking for money.”
Meanwhile a paste surfaced on Pastebin and claimed to include a sample of customers’ personal details, including email addresses and records of transactions. Also several messages were posted online last night by someone claiming to represent “the TalkTalk hackers” said the cyberattack was carried out by a Russia-based jihadist group, and warned of more to come.
The claims made by the unknown persons are unverified as of now. The Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit are investigating the security incident alongside TalkTalk’s tech staff.
Mr. Harding said that the hack attack may have exposed TalkTalk customer names, addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, telephone numbers, credit card details, bank details, and information relating to TalkTalk accounts.
Besides contacting officials, TalkTalk has taken it a step further and contacted some of the banks of affected clients and asked them to monitor any suspicious financial activities.
TalkTalk will offer regular one free year of credit monitoring services to the affected customers.
