Hackers have stolen personal details relating to thousands of Irish online shoppers from an international courier company.
The Irish Data Protection Commission has opened an investigation into the data breach at Fastway couriers.
The company has confirmed that names, addresses, email accounts and phone numbers of 446,143 people were accessed during the attack.
It said that no financial information or other personal data was accessed.
The personal details were linked to deliveries that were due to take place over a 30-day period from mid-January onwards.
The Irish Data Protection Commission has confirmed to me that they have received a breach notification from Fastway Couriers.
Customer data impacted includes: names, addresses, email accounts and phone numbers.@NewstalkFM
— Jess Kelly 👩🏻💻 (@jesskellynt) March 11, 2021
In a statement, Fastway CEO Danny Hughes said: “It is distressing that our IT system was compromised by a malicious attack as we are exceptionally careful in every aspect of our data protection obligations.
“I deeply regret that people’s personal data has been compromised and I apologise to our clients and their customers.
“I want to stress that nobody’s financial data was at risk and the issue is limited to delivery information only.
“We will continue to work closely with the Data Protection Commission, the Gardaí and our clients to mange this situation in line with best practice.”
The Irish Data Protection Commission has confirmed to me that they have received a breach notification from Fastway Couriers.
Customer data impacted includes: names, addresses, email accounts and phone numbers.@NewstalkFM
— Jess Kelly 👩🏻💻 (@jesskellynt) March 11, 2021
It is believed the breach took place on February 24th while the company was carrying out server maintenance.
It was identified by a third-party IT contractor on February 25th and fixed by 9am the next morning.
The contractor did not inform Fastway about the breach until March 2nd.
Fastway said it informed Gardaí and the Data Protection Commissioner as soon as it learned of the breach.
The company handles deliveries for 7263 companies, including 20 "large e-retailers.'
Fastway said each of these companies will now decide "if and how people are advised of the fact that their personal data has been compromised."
With reporting from Jess Kelly
