Virgin Media data breach – customers urged to change passwords after 900,000 affected
VIRGIN Media customers have been told to change their passwords following a data breach, which left the personal details of 900,000 customers unsecured.
The company said personal information including customers’ names, home and email addresses, and phone numbers was accessed through a database.
The database didn’t contain passwords or financial details and had been accessed “on at least one occasion”.
Customers who have been affected by the breach are now being contacted by Virgin Media, who say they’re not sure how much of the data was breached.
The database, which was for marketing purposes, was accessed by an unauthorised person after it was “incorrectly configured”.
It has since been shut down after being left unsecured since April 2019.
In a statement, the company said: “We recently became aware that one of our marketing databases was incorrectly configured which allowed unauthorised access.
“We immediately solved the issue by shutting down access to this database.
“We urge people to remain cautious before clicking on an unknown link or giving any details to an unverified or unknown party.”
Adam French, Which? consumer rights expert, said: “For anyone concerned they could be affected – it’s good practice to update your password after a data breach.
“Also, be wary of emails regarding the breach, as scammers may try and take advantage of it.”
How to keep yourself safe from hackers and scammers
FOLLOW these steps to protect yourself from hackers in the future:
- Make a ‘strong’ password with 8 or more characters and a combination of upper case characters, numbers and symbols
- Don’t do online banking on public WiFi, unless absolutely necessary
- Don’t click on dodgy email links claiming to be from banks
- Use different passwords for different sites
- Never re-use your main email password
- Use anti-virus software
- Don’t accept Facebook friend requests or LinkedIn invitations from people you don’t know
- Think before you put personal info on social media
- Find My iPhone, Android Lost and BlackBerry Protect all allow you to remotely wipe a stolen phone. Set this feature up
- Only shop online on secure sites
- Don’t store your card details on websites
- Password protect your phone and other devices
Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, says: “Almost a million Virgin Media customers will be rightly concerned to learn that their personal data has been accessible and unsecure since last summer.
“Ten months is a long time for information useful to scammers, like phone numbers and email addresses, to be left available online.
“While it’s fortunate that only one ‘unknown user’ accessed the information in that time, it only takes one person to sell that information to cyber-criminals.”
Virgin Media customers are being urged to visit the company’s for more information or call their customer service line on 0345 454 1111.
Yesterday saw hundreds of Virgin Media homes in Hampshire unable to access their internet.
Last month, Virgin Media TV went down during the Six Nations 2020 England Game.
We also reported that Virgin is to give one million customers a free broadband boost this year.