UK Retail Hack Hits 2.4M Consumers

A British mobile phone retailer has fallen victim to a customer data breach.

Carphone Warehouse reported on Saturday (Aug. 8) that up to 2.4 million of its customers may have had their personal data accessed in a cyberattack, while encrypted credit card details may have been breached for as many as 90,000 of them, according to BBC News.

The retailer’s owner, Dixons Carphone, told the BBC that the “vast majority” of Carphone Warehouse customers are unaffected. Via the outlet, the hack affected some of the company’s separately managed divisions, including OneStopPhoneShop.com, e2save.com and Mobiles.co.uk.

The BBC adds that Dixons also provides services to iD Mobile, TalkTalk Mobile, Talk Mobile and some Carphone Warehouse customers.

“We are, of course, informing anyone that may have been affected and have put in place additional security measures,” said Sebastian James, chief executive of Dixons Carphone, in a statement. “We take the security of customer data extremely seriously, and we are very sorry that people have been affected by this attack on our systems.”

Carphone Warehouse told the BBC that it was in the process of informing all the customers who may have been affected by the cyberattack and helping them to reduce further risk of their personal data being exposed as a result.

According to the BBC, Carphone Warehouse first became aware of the problem on Aug. 5.

“In that time, 72 hours, they will say we need to find the depth of the breach, but let’s say some people do have their cards compromised,” said the BBC’s Joe Lynam. “They will be livid that they weren’t told straight away, so they could cancel those cards.”



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