Three personal data breach leaves nine million at risk

The personal data of more than nine million customers have been at risk following the data breach

Three’s nine million customers have been at risk of having their personal information stolen following the arrest of three men over data breach charges.

The operator confirmed the names and addresses of its subscribers had been accessed following unauthorised access to a database listing customers eligible for upgrades. It does not know how many of its nine million subscribers were at risk, but confirmed no payment, bank or card details were accessed.

Attackers had used the database to order upgraded phones, which affected eight customers. The network had become aware of the suspicious activity on November 14 and worked with the relevant authorities to intercept the attack.

The National Crime Agency confirmed it had arrested a 48-year-old man from Orpington, Kent, and a 39-year-old male from Ashton-Under-Lyne, Manchester on suspicion of computer misuse offences. A third man from Moston, Manchester has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Three is currently investigating how the database was accessed and has since increased its security. The eight customers affected have been contacted by the operator.

A Three spokesperson confirmed that 400 handsets, which include iPhone and Samsung Galaxy devices, had also been stolen from retail stores in separate incidents. These smartphones have since been retrieved.

They said: “Over the last four weeks Three has seen an increasing level of attempted handset fraud. This has been visible through higher levels of burglaries of retail stores and attempts to unlawfully intercept upgrade devices. We’ve been working closely with the police and relevant authorities.

“To date, we have confirmed approximately 400 high value handsets have been stolen through burglaries and eight devices have been illegally obtained through the upgrade activity. In order to commit this type of upgrade handset fraud, the perpetrators used authorised logins to Three’s upgrade system.”

The latest attack follows another where 157,000 TalkTalk customers had their personal data stolen in October last year. It had been fined £400,000 by Ofcom for the breach last month.

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