PN Hacked ?

[#1]

The Daily Telegraph have headlines that 44 million Britons may have been caught in a US hack which includes BT customers so what is the position regarding PN ?

Have we any cause for concern

[#2]

Just looked - can't see anything.

Link?

[#3]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/09/08/equifax-hack-britons-data-watchdog-investigates-uki...

[#4]

@MisterW - many thanks.

I can't see enough detail in that story to answer @gleneagles query - we are going to have to wait and see.

[#5]

Would we notice?

Would it mean lots of trouble makers posting on this forum?

Like I said would we notice.

[#6]

From here http://news.sky.com/story/mass-data-breach-with-equifax-hack-an-unmitigated-disaster-11026490

The hack compromised a wealth of personal data, including names, birthdays, addresses and social security numbers - as well as credit card numbers for more than 200,000 people.

The firm admitted UK consumers were affected by the breach but did not say how many, however the company is understood to hold the data of 44 million British consumers.

So the question is what information do Plusnet hold and would send when asking for a credit check

Perhaps

Name
Address
Phone Number
Bank details (unlikely but possible)
Date of Birth - I don't think they held that at that time but certainly have it now for a mobile account
Credit Card details (for pre direct debit authorisation) although I would have thought that unlikely)

[#7]

I think its fair to say that anyone with some form of credit / contractual agreement will probably be caught up in this.

My question is why people out there are after so many of our records in the first place. There is no way you could apply 40 million times for fraudulent credit and intercept 40 million credit cards arriving in the post. So who is doing this and what is the purpose? - To me there seems to be something bigger going on.

Where were the CIA / NSA and GCHQ in all of this?

[#8]

The thread title is rather misleading!

[#9]

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billnotben wrote:

Would it mean lots of trouble makers posting on this forum?

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I`ve got enough competition, at the moment, without any interlopers coming along, and spoiling things...

[#10]

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DaveyH wrote:

The thread title is rather misleading!

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Perhaps it should say,' Some customers of PN'

PN are part of BT and whilst we have yet to have it confirmed that no customer details have been disclosed is it not better to be aware they might have been rather that say the title of the thread is not accurate and just forget about it ? or indeed not even mention the subject.

[#11]

It's better to be accurate/factual!

Neither PN, or BT or their customers have been hacked. A credit reference agency they may, or may not use has and therefore their customers details may have been compromised..

[#12]

So the article in the paper was misleading in making a refrence to BT ?

I guess it should not be that difficult to establish if BT use that agency or not ? Is it not up to BT / PN to confirm one way or the other in the interests of their customers, some of whom may be concerned over the contents of that article ?

You will also note the headline had a question mark after it so I was not making a statement of fact rather than a question based on that article

[#13]

You're missing the point!

There's a world of difference between suggesting BT and Plusnet and/or their customers being hacked (which the title and your subsequent post imply) and the reality that a third party credit reference agency that BT Retail use, and PN may or may not use being hacked...

[#14]

seems to be rather limited with respect to UK Customers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-41286638

The UK arm of the organisation said files containing information on "fewer than 400,000" UK consumers was accessed in the breach.

<snip>

In a statement, the UK office of Equifax said an internal investigation had shown that data on UK consumers was accessed during the hack.

It said data on Britons was being held in the US due to a "process failure" which meant that a limited amount of information was stored in North America between 2011 and 2016.

The information held included names, dates of birth, email addresses and telephone numbers. No addresses, passwords or financial data was involved.

Equifax said that because the data on UK citizens was limited it was "unlikely" that those affected would suffer identity theft.

It said it would contact those affected and offer them free ID protection services that would alert them to any attempt to carry out fraud with their details.

[#15]

Update from Equifax here.

On 7 September 2017, Equifax Inc. our US parent company announced a cybersecurity incident. As part of its investigation, Equifax has now identified unauthorised access to limited personal information for certain UK consumers.

Equifax Ltd. (UK) can now confirm that UK systems are not affected. Equifax Ltd. and TDX Group systems and platforms are entirely separated from those impacted by the Equifax Inc. cybersecurity incident.

Regrettably the investigation shows that a file containing UK consumer information may potentially have been accessed. This was due to a process failure, corrected in 2016, which led to a limited amount of UK data being stored in the US between 2011 and 2016. The information was restricted to: Name, date of birth, email address and a telephone number and Equifax can confirm that the data does not include any residential address information, password information or financial data. Having concluded the initial assessment Equifax has established that it is likely to need to contact fewer than 400,000 UK consumers in order to offer them appropriate advice and a range of services to help safeguard and reassure them.

Due to the nature of the information Equifax believes identity takeover is unlikely for the UK consumers who had their data potentially accessed in this incident. It is however important that Equifax does all that it can to provide reassurance and protection to these people and it will be proactively contacting impacted customers in writing to offer them a free comprehensive identity protection service which will allow them to monitor their personal data, including their credit information and be alerted to any potential signs of fraudulent activity.

The service will also incorporate web and social media monitoring alerting the consumer to any publically available information about them. Equifax will also provide links to services provided by other UK regulated organisations which these consumers may prefer to take-up in addition to or instead of the free services provided by Equifax.

Patricio Remon, President at Equifax Ltd. said: “We apologise for this failure to protect UK consumer data. Our immediate focus is to support those affected by this incident and to ensure we make all of the necessary improvements and investments to strengthen our security and processes going forward.”

The compromised UK consumer data does not relate to any single Equifax business client or institution.

The investigation is ongoing and Equifax Ltd is in dialogue with the Financial Conduct Authority and Information Commissioner’s Office.

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