Virgin Media has just disclosed a data breach incident into one of its servers. The incident occurred due to improper configuration as not setting a password to access the server, which led around 900,000 customers data being exposed. Initial investigations revealed that data was being accessed at least once by someone, but have not been exploited in any way yet.
Virgin Media is one of the UK’s largest network of telephone, internet and television provider. The media house’s press release on March 5th, 2020 an unauthorized access by someone into one of its servers, that’s improperly configured. This could mostly be leaving the servers without any password, thus letting it open for access.
The giant database of 900,000 customers!
Though the firm didn’t exactly explain how it faced the breach, its CEO Lutz Schüler informed that contact details of about 900,000 people have been exposed to this incident. This makes up 15% of the company’s fixed-line customers. Further, the particulars of exposed details are claimed to Name, Address, Phone number and email address along with any technical and product information. All this data is intended for marketing purposes, as said by Schüler. He even assured the data did not include any sensitive info as card details or passwords.
The firm has already notified the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, which oversees all such incidents. Further, it’s also containing those affected customers to inform the breach and guide them will safety measures. It has also prepared an FAQ-type page to let their subscribers know about the incident and be aware of potential identify thefts as phishing attacks.
Regarding the incident, CEO Lutz Schüler said, “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.”, followed by an assurance that they would take complete responsibility in protecting their customers information.
