We’re offering advice to victims of the monumental Dixons Carphone data breach. The breach reportedly involves the data for almost six million payment cards and the exposure of over a million personal records.
The Data Leak lawyers have assessed the incident and are prepared to offer advice and No Win, No Fee representation for anyone who has been affected by the breach.
Our own investigations into the data breach have commenced, and you can contact our team for further assistance.
What has happened?
The Dixons Carphone data breach reportedly happened last year in July 2017 after hackers attempted to break into processing systems of Currys PC World and Dixons Travel. Despite the cyber-attack reportedly beginning in July 2017, news of the Dixons Carphone data breach has only broken almost a year on from the event.
The unacceptable delay in the disclosure of the breach has yet to be addressed, and we do not know if there are any links to the previous Carphone Warehouse from 2015 that saw them fined £400,000.00 by the UK’s data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
What data has been compromised?
It’s understood that the attack targeted 5.8 million credit and debit cards, and 105,000 cards without chip-and-pin protection were leaked. In addition, 1.2 million personal data records that included names, addresses and email addresses was also compromised.
Normally, when an organisation is hit with a monumental data breach like this one, they’re often quick to try and dilute the severity of the breach when the hack does not expose payment information. In this case, payment data has been leaked in addition to personal data that can leave victims open to fraud.
The Dixons Carphone data breach has resulted in the company reportedly hiring security experts as part of an ongoing investigation into how it happened.
Why are people at risk?
Aside form the obvious risks associated with payment information being leaked, the leak of personal data can lead to people falling victim to fraud.
We saw from the massive TalkTalk data breach that we’re representing victims for that criminals will impersonate organisations where data is breached from in attempts to steal money. A number of people were contacted by so-called representatives of TalkTalk with data we can only assume was taken from the TalkTalk data breach, and a number of people have been scammed as a result.
Victims in this case could face similar risks and must be vigilant whenever anyone contact them purporting to be from Dixons Carphone.
Does the new GDPR have any impact on the Dixons Carphone data breach?
Because the breach happened last year, it’s understood that GDPR will not apply to the breach.
The delay in the reporting of the data breach remains a concern, although it’s not uncommon for there to be delays like we saw with the Equifax data breach we’re also helping people for. That being said, the breaking of this news taking place almost a year on from the event is incredibly concerning.
What can victims of the Dixons Carphone data breach do?
Victims of the Dixons Carphone data breach may be entitled to claim for data protection compensation. We understand that victims of the data breach are already being contacted by Dixons Carphone as we have already been approached for help.
Please contact our Data Leak Team on 0800 634 75 75 or make an enquiry below for further assistance.