TalkTalk talks down cyberattack data theft

LONDON, Oct 25, (Agencies): British telecoms company TalkTalk says a cyberattack feared to have put 4 million customers’ details at risk is not as bad as initially thought. Chief executive Dido Harding said Saturday that attackers hacked the company’s website but not its core systems, and “none of our customers’ credit card information has been exposed.” She said some bank account details had been accessed, but not enough for thieves to steal money from customers’ accounts.

TalkTalk has acknowledged that it realized it was under attack on Wednesday and has been criticized for not telling customers for more than a day. On Friday the firm said it had received a ransom note from the alleged hackers. It is the third known cyber attack this year on TalkTalk, which provides mobile phone, Internet and pay-TV services. “It is a smaller attack than we had originally thought,” Harding told Sky News. “Any credit card information that has been stolen has the six middle digits of the credit card blanked out so cannot be used for financial transactions,” she said.

The company, which has had two other data breaches this year, also said that the attack did not hit its systems and that customers’ website account passwords had not been accessed. But British business leaders on Saturday warned about the danger of cyber crime and urged police to make the issue an urgent priority, saying firms faced continual security breaches.