Dixons Carphone confirms data security breach

Dixons Carphone has confirmed a data security breach that has resulted in 5.9 million bank cards and 1.2 million personal data records being targeted by cyber criminals.

In a statement, the company revealed that hacking attempts began as early as July 2017. Although there is no evidence any of the cards have been used fraudulently, around 105,000 cards without the protection of chip and pin have reportedly been taken.

The company also confirmed that hackers attempted to access one of the Currys PC World and Dixons Travel processing systems, and an additional 1.2 million records containing names, addresses and email information have been accessed.

According to Alex Baldock, chief executive of Dixons Carphone, the company is "extremely disappointed" about the distress the incidents have caused the group's customers.

"The protection of our data has to be at the heart of our business, and we’ve fallen short here," he said. "We’ve taken action to close off this unauthorised access and though we have currently no evidence of fraud as a result of these incidents, we are taking this extremely seriously."

Commenting on the incident, Peter Carlisle, VP of EMEA at data security company Thales eSecurity, the launch of the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) means companies now have to be more aware of their cyber security than ever before, both to prevent fines and to ensure they maintain their reputation among customers.

"In the best effort to fight cybercrime head on, businesses need to take data security into their own hands, using a combination of preventative – not reactive – processes to throw hackers off track," he said.

"A significant amount of money to lose for any business, now the perils of a data breach just got a lot more serious."