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Britain's Dixons Carphone Discovers Data Breach Affecting 5.9 Million Payment Cards (betanews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the here-we-go-again dept.

Mark Wilson shares a report from BetaNews: Another week, another cyberattack. This time around, it's the Dixons Carphone group which says it has fallen victim to not one but two major breaches. The bank card details of 5.9 million customers have been accessed by hackers in the first breach. In the second, the personal records of 1.2 million people have been exposed. Dixons Carphone says that it is investigating an attack on its card processing system at Currys PC World and Dixons Travel in which there was an attempt to compromise 5.9 million cards. The company stressed that the vast majority -- 5.8 million -- of these cards were protected by chip and PIN, and that the data accessed did not include PINS, CVVs or any other authentication data that could be used to make payments or identify the card owners. The report goes on to mention that 105,000 non-EU issued payment cards, which were not chip and PIN protected, were also affected. The company says it will be contacting those customers affected by the breaches.

9 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No breaches or worries here by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    Impressive! Tell us more!

  2. Dixons by symes · · Score: 1

    Dixons is a pretty mediocre retailer and I would not be surprised is they had severely under-resourced security in place. Frankly, something like this should be enough to take them to bankruptcy.

    1. Re:Dixons by jrumney · · Score: 2

      I'd be pretty surprised if they had any staff who were not 100% dedicated to selling "extended warranties" and "interest free" loans with massive penalty clauses and inertia terms designed to trigger those penalties.

  3. Time to change ... by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

    It is time to change the responsibility from the victims to the people who allow fraudulent charges. If I don't authorize a charge, then it shouldn't be allowed.

    Yes, this will make online transactions more difficult. There is a line between Security and usability that needs to involve more than reading a bunch of numbers off a card.

    --
    Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
    1. Re:Time to change ... by ole_timer · · Score: 1

      well we kinda are - the retailer just raises prices to pay the costs...

      --
      nothing to see here - move along
    2. Re:Time to change ... by Archangel+Michael · · Score: 1

      Try recovering from Identity theft (the primary reason is money!!!). You have to PROVE you're innocent.

      --
      Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
  4. Re:No breaches or worries here by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    (remove spaces between characters & download).

    You're the best, APK. We need more like you around here.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  5. Re:Wasn't me (see my other posts)... apk by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    Downloading your hosts engine IS right now. We may not always agree, but you seem alright to me.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  6. up to $50 in the usa but most cards cover that any by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    up to $50 in the usa but most cards cover that anyways