Currys PC World is the latest in a long line of corporations to suffer a large-scale data breach, but the positive news to take from the story is the swiftness and clarity of their response. One of our colleagues, as a Currys PC World customer, received an email explaining the loss of data, what was involved, and what he should do to protect himself from fraud.

The message was comprehensive and apologetic – and suggests that British businesses are finally learning how to respond to these kinds of cyber crimes.

The recent news from Currys PC World came in two waves; at first, they believed that 1.2 million customers were affected, although no payment card information was involved. Several weeks later the electronics giant had to report that the scale of the problem was far larger. After an internal investigation they put the number of customers affected at 10 million.

Currys PC World reports that none of their customers has been directly defrauded in the immediate aftermath of the data breach. But we know from previous hacks that customer data is rarely used in isolation; instead, this kind of information is used as bait in phishing attacks. With customer data in their hands, fraudsters can dupe people into handing over more information which then gives them access to bank accounts, payment cards and online stores.

So, the true impact of this kind of data breach is unlikely to be immediately obvious – and people who are defrauded six or nine months from now may never know that their loss originated with lax security at Currys PC World.

Alex Neill of Which? commented on the incident: “Dixons Carphone customers will be alarmed to hear about this massive data breach and will be asking why it has taken so long for the company to uncover the extent of its security failure. It is now critical that the company moves quickly to ensure those affected get clear information about what has happened and what steps they should take to protect themselves.”

The letter from Currys PC World is commendably clear and direct: “Our investigation, which is now nearing completion, has identified that approximately 10 million records containing personal data may have been accessed in 2017. This unauthorised access to data may include personal information such as name, address, phone number, date of birth and email address.”

Currys PC World also laid out clear guidance for their customers on how to minimise the risk of fraud:

• If you receive an unsolicited email, letter, text or phone call asking for personal information, never reveal any full passwords, login details or account numbers until you are certain of the identity of the person making the request. Please do not click on any links you do not recognise.
• If you think you have been a victim of fraud you should report it to Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud and internet crime reporting centre, on 0300 123 2040*.
• We also recommend that people are vigilant against any suspicious activity on their bank accounts and contact their financial provider if they have concerns.

Although the value of Currys PC World shares fell after news of the initial data breach was revealed, markets reacted less extremely to the second wave of news, with shares actually rising slightly. This may reflect a degree of breach fatigue – or a belief that the high street’s last electronics retailer has already paid the price for its security failure.

Are data breaches an inevitable part of a society that lives and trades online? Or will businesses eventually find systems and processes to outfox the data bandits?

Worried about data breaches? Find out more about Data Protection eLearning from VinciWorks.

Data breaches are nothing new.

What has changed recently is the regulations surrounding personal data.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), companies must notify the Information Commissioner’s Office within 72 hours of becoming aware of a breach.

In the case of Ticketmaster’s recent breach, questions remain about whether they reported the loss of data affecting 40,000 customers quickly enough.

Ticketmaster lost the customer data because of a third-party application designed to help them manage customer support requests. The Inbenta software was infected with malware and was passing customer data to a third-party, who then used the information to help them make fraudulent payments.

Ticketmaster claims that up to 40,000 UK customers may have had their data stolen. Customers in the US were not affected in the incident. Ticketmaster is offering customers a 12-month identity monitoring service to help prevent further frauds from occurring.

One of the problems with a data breach of this kind is the avalanche of follow-up crimes that typically occur – not always relying on the actual data lost. This is because criminals use the confusion and concern caused by a major data loss incident to dupe customers into changing passwords – on dummy websites that they control. Ticketmaster is urging customers to only visit genuine Ticketmaster websites on recognised addresses.

Brooks Wallace, cyber-security specialist from Trusted Knight commented: “After an incident like this, criminals from around the world will jump at the chance to try and catch a few unsuspecting people out,” said Brooks Wallace from the cyber-security specialist Trusted Knight. “If you receive any emails purporting to be from Ticketmaster asking for any personal information, discard them. If you need to contact Ticketmaster, type the website address into your browser and log-in that way.”

Questions about the timing of Ticketmaster’s notification surfaced after Monzo, the online bank, reported that they had uncovered evidence that Ticketmaster may have been breached in early April – something they passed on to authorities and to Ticketmaster. Monzo’s discovery followed customer reports of fraudulent transactions. The security team at Monzo analysed the accounts of approximately 50 customers who had all been the victim of fraud and found a pattern: 70% of the affected customers had recently bought tickets from Ticketmaster. Only 0.8% of their entire customer base had used Ticketmaster.

The question that the ICO may want answered is why it took months for Ticketmaster to confirm that a breach had taken place? Was the breach carefully concealed by hackers? Or did Ticketmaster hope to limit the scope of scandal?

Read more about Information Security eLearning from VinciWoks.