Virgin Media has apologised after it lost the personal details of 900,000 customers in a data breach.
The breach occurred through one of its marketing databases which was ‘incorrectly configured’ to allow unauthorised access.
While no passwords or financial information were stored on the database, other details such as names, addresses and phone numbers were compromised.
Virgin Media said access to the database had been shut down immediately following the discovery but by that time it had been accessed ‘on at least one occasion’.
‘We recently became aware that one of our marketing databases was incorrectly configured which allowed unauthorised access,’ the company said in a statement.
‘We immediately solved the issue by shutting down access to this database, which contained some contact details of approximately 900,000 people, including fixed line customers representing approximately 15% of that customer base.’
‘Protecting our customers’ data is a top priority and we sincerely apologise.’
It added that it was unsure the extent of the access or if any information was actually used.
‘Based upon our investigation, Virgin Media does believe that the database was accessed on at least one occasion but we do not know the extent of the access or if any information was actually used,’ the company said.
Jake Moore, a cybersecurity specialist at ESET, said the blunder shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
‘Leaving data insecure should seriously be a thing of the past, yet this just highlights that major companies are still unaware of exactly where their data is and how vulnerable it may be to cyber attacks,’ he told Metro.co.uk.
‘Whilst no passwords or bank details were under any risk of compromise, this is still enough for a cyber criminal to take advantage of. Usually, the next step for attackers will be to follow up with phishing emails enticing customers to divulge further information.
‘Coupled up with Virgin’s broadband outage in the week, this could be a particularly good target for malicious actors to prey on.’
Virgin said that online security advice and help on a range of topics is available to customers on its website.
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