The telecom giant says that almost 2000 customers have had their names, their bank account details and personal information stolen but that their systems were not compromised
A 15-year-old boy has been arrested in Northern Ireland over the TalkTalk cyber attack last week, Scotland Yard has said.
In a statement, Metropolitan Police said a house had been searched in County Antrim on Monday afternoon at about 16:20 GMT. The boy was arrested on suspicion of offences relating to the Computer Misuse Act 1990. He has been taken into custody at Antrim police station and is being questioned by detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland. A search of the address is ongoing and inquiries continue. The statement said this was a joint investigation involving the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), and detectives from the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit (MPCCU). News that the TalkTalk website had been hit by a "significant and sustained cyber-attack" broke last Wednesday. The phone and broadband provider, which has over four million UK customers, said banking details and personal information could have been accessed. A criminal investigation was launched on Thursday. The company said it did not know how much of their customer information had been encrypted. Business leaders have called for urgent action to tackle cyber crime in the wake of the TalkTalk attack. On Monday, MPs said an inquiry would be launched into the cyber-attack that could have put customers' details at risk. Culture minister Ed Vaizey told the House of Commons the government was not against compulsory encryption for firms holding customer data. Shares in the telecoms company fell more than 12% in Monday trading, extending its losses from last week when news of the attack first emerged. TalkTalk has said the cyber-attack was "smaller" than originally thought. Hacker-hit TalkTalk could be sunk by millions of compensation claims after customer details were stolen from its website, an expert warned on Sunday.
The telecoms firm revealed the data hack that put up to four million current and former customers’ details at risk may not be as bad as first feared. However chief exec Dido Harding told the Mirror TalkTalk’s customers will decide her, and the company’s, future. Ms Harding said: “In the end our customers will make that decision, not me. “The future depends on what we do over the next few weeks. CYBER SECURITY - HAS IT CLICKED?When it comes to preventing cyber attacks on your business – no matter how big or small your firm may be - it’s vital to have a security plan in place.
The 2014 Information Security Breaches Survey found 81 percent of large companies had reported some form of security breach, costing each an average of £600,000 to £1.5m. Writing and implementing a plan need not be daunting and, as part of Humberside Police’s Cyber Security – Has It Clicked? campaign, force experts have put together advice on how to get started. Superintendent Philip Ward said: “You need to take a systematic approach to security and the first step towards doing that is to compile and implement an effective security plan. “This should be reviewed regularly in line with your changing business needs, market conditions and evolving threats.” “Don’t worry about getting it perfect right from the start. Having a good plan in place today then refining and updating it, is better for your business than waiting until your plan is perfect. “There’s nothing to stop you refining and updating it.” There are five steps to formulating and maintaining an effective plan: Audit – Do an honest appraisal of the skills of you and your team to determine if you require training or outside help. Identify the assets and information that need protection, including hardware, software, data and documents. What are the threats and risks? Plan – Write out your strategy for managing these risks and agree a timetable for implementation. Among the things an effective plan should consider are:
Monitor – keep up to date with the latest threats and ensure you take steps to mitigate them. You could also consider joining the Yorkshire and Humber CiSP - a free service for businesses, providing real-time advice on beating cyber criminals. Ensure your software is regularly updated. Repeat – Look to review your plan every six to 12 months, or whenever significant changes are made to the business. For more advice on protecting your business For more information, follow @humberbeat #HPcybercrime on Twitter or like the Humberside Police Facebook page. |
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