The phone and broadband provider, TalkTalk which has over four million UK customers had been attacked by a cyber breach on Wednesday (October 21).
The police had begun criminal investigation regarding the cyber-attack on the telecom provider’s website on late Thursday evening (October 22) in which some of its customer’s banking details and personal information may have been accessed though the company’s spokesperson said that it was too early to make any speculations as they are still finding out what data had been stolen.
Cyber security consultant and former Scotland Yard detective Adrian Culley told BBC that a Russian Islamist group had posted online to claim responsibility for the attacks.
TalkTalk said it had received a ransom demand from the group.
Till now no arrests had been made regarding the breach.
Shares in TalkTalk fell sharply by 10.7 percent on Friday (October 23) after it warned its customers that personal details such as names, credit card and bank details may have been stolen.
It is the third time in the past 12 months that TalkTalk customers have been affected by data breaches.
In August personal data of customers was breached on mobile site of the company after scammers stole thousands of account numbers and names from the company's computers in February.
The company has warned its customers to be wary on receiving any telephone calls claiming to be from TalkTalk, especially if the caller asks for private information. Talk talk has said it never asks customers to give their full passwords or Pin codes over the telephone.
In case the customer is not sure about the call, they can always ask for a reference number and call the company back on 0870 444 1820.
If the customers are suspicious about the mail received, they can ask the company by calling on their customer service line as many attackers can send convincing e mails as if they are talking from Talk talk and can send link which can direct the account information to them if clicked.
The company however had contacted major banks, which will monitor any suspicious activity from customers’ accounts, as well as the Information Commissioner’s Office.
This breach should however yet another massive wake-up call to everyone, from the Cabinet Office, through the banks, to the average retiree, that internet based systems are not totally secure.
This is all the more important today as increasing numbers of tech-dependent businesses, including banks, utilities companies and government departments’ priorities Internet-enabled systems over bricks and mortar, in order to save cash.
Whilst the internet should be exploited, this needs to be done with far more consideration and expense devoted to security issues. A cyber security expert, Winn Schwartau, has repeatedly warned against internet based systems.
Cyber-crime is not just committed by bored teenagers. There are thousands of computer graduates globally now working for very sophisticated criminal gangs, as these are the only jobs they can get.
Unfortunately this kind of criminal activity will get much worse and authorities everywhere are falling further and further behind.
A huge raft of measures is required to mitigate likely future damage.
The companies need to compartmentalize their online existence by having different passwords for their different services.
The policy makers need to stall the advancement of block chain technologies, such as Bitcoin, which can anonymise cash transfers.
Moreover, all new ATMs should use some form of biometric information capture from users before every transaction. Intelligent algorithms could then be deployed to identify distributed cash-harvesting by criminal organizations.
The weakest links in any security system are often its people who are impacted the most during any breach.
The police had begun criminal investigation regarding the cyber-attack on the telecom provider’s website on late Thursday evening (October 22) in which some of its customer’s banking details and personal information may have been accessed though the company’s spokesperson said that it was too early to make any speculations as they are still finding out what data had been stolen.
Cyber security consultant and former Scotland Yard detective Adrian Culley told BBC that a Russian Islamist group had posted online to claim responsibility for the attacks.
TalkTalk said it had received a ransom demand from the group.
Till now no arrests had been made regarding the breach.
Shares in TalkTalk fell sharply by 10.7 percent on Friday (October 23) after it warned its customers that personal details such as names, credit card and bank details may have been stolen.
It is the third time in the past 12 months that TalkTalk customers have been affected by data breaches.
In August personal data of customers was breached on mobile site of the company after scammers stole thousands of account numbers and names from the company's computers in February.
The company has warned its customers to be wary on receiving any telephone calls claiming to be from TalkTalk, especially if the caller asks for private information. Talk talk has said it never asks customers to give their full passwords or Pin codes over the telephone.
In case the customer is not sure about the call, they can always ask for a reference number and call the company back on 0870 444 1820.
If the customers are suspicious about the mail received, they can ask the company by calling on their customer service line as many attackers can send convincing e mails as if they are talking from Talk talk and can send link which can direct the account information to them if clicked.
The company however had contacted major banks, which will monitor any suspicious activity from customers’ accounts, as well as the Information Commissioner’s Office.
This breach should however yet another massive wake-up call to everyone, from the Cabinet Office, through the banks, to the average retiree, that internet based systems are not totally secure.
This is all the more important today as increasing numbers of tech-dependent businesses, including banks, utilities companies and government departments’ priorities Internet-enabled systems over bricks and mortar, in order to save cash.
Whilst the internet should be exploited, this needs to be done with far more consideration and expense devoted to security issues. A cyber security expert, Winn Schwartau, has repeatedly warned against internet based systems.
Cyber-crime is not just committed by bored teenagers. There are thousands of computer graduates globally now working for very sophisticated criminal gangs, as these are the only jobs they can get.
Unfortunately this kind of criminal activity will get much worse and authorities everywhere are falling further and further behind.
A huge raft of measures is required to mitigate likely future damage.
The companies need to compartmentalize their online existence by having different passwords for their different services.
The policy makers need to stall the advancement of block chain technologies, such as Bitcoin, which can anonymise cash transfers.
Moreover, all new ATMs should use some form of biometric information capture from users before every transaction. Intelligent algorithms could then be deployed to identify distributed cash-harvesting by criminal organizations.
The weakest links in any security system are often its people who are impacted the most during any breach.