An investigation by the BBC consumer rights show Watchdog Live has revealed that UK telco Talk Talk botched the breach notification that followed a 2015 cybersecurity incident by failing to inform 4545 impacted customers.
The company acknowledged the mistake, describing it as “a genuine error.” The firm says it has apologized to the affected customers, but it claims that “on their own, none of the details accessed in the 2015 incident could lead to any direct financial loss.” However, this last statement ignores the fact that criminals can certainly use the exposed information as part of identity theft and fraud campaigns. The compromised information, which Watchdog Live found for sale on dark web forums, includes full names, addresses, email addresses, dates of birth, TalkTalk customer numbers, mobile numbers and even bank details.
Read more: TalkTalk Overlooked Nearly 5000 Customers in Breach Notification