TalkTalk customer data at risk from 'significant' cyber breach

TalkTalk said a criminal investigation was launched by the Metropolitan Police cyber crime unit on Thursday following a “significant and sustained” cyberattack on the company’s website, which it discovered on Wednesday.

The investigation is ongoing, but the company said there is a chance some names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses, TalkTalk account information, credit card details and/or bank details have been compromised.

TalkTalk, which has over 4m customers, said it’s continuing to work with leading cyber crime specialists and the Met to establish exactly what happened and the extent of any information accessed.

Chief executive officer Dido Harding said: “TalkTalk constantly updates its systems to make sure they are as secure as possible against the rapidly evolving threat of cyber crime, impacting an increasing number of individuals and organisations.

We take any threat to the security of our customers' data extremely seriously and we are taking all the necessary steps to understand what has happened here. As a precaution, we are contacting all our customers straight away with information, support and advice around yesterday's attack."

The company said it was contacting all its customers by email and letter straight away to let them know what has happened and will keep them up to date as it learns more.

“Whilst we send those letters we’re working with the media to ensure customers get the information they need as quickly as possible,” it said.

TalkTalk added that it is offering a year’s free credit monitoring for all its customers and will be contacting them with the details.

A spokesperson for the company told Sky News that it has been contacted by someone claiming to be responsible for the hack and seeking payment.

At 1400 BST, TalkTalk shares were down 2.2% to 262.50p.