Electric Ireland has notified the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner that customers who participated in a loyalty scheme run by ESB in 2007 and 2008 have also been affected by the recently reported data breach.
Contact details – including names, addresses, phone numbers, emails and booking reference numbers – of about 6,700 customers have been affected. However, it is understood that financial data has not been compromised.
Loyalty programme management company Loyaltybuild informed Electric Ireland of the breach and will be notifying affected customers. ESB customers should be vigilant of any unsolicited communications they receive, which may be a result of the data breach.
It is believed the Loyaltybuild attack forms part of a series of cyberattacks across Europe that have affected 1.1m people. Data from about 62,500 SuperValu Getaway Breaks customers and up to 8,000 AXA Leisure Breaks customers have also been compromised. Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner has since urged customers to check their credit card bills for any unauthorised transactions.
