Member Article

JD Wetherspoon reassures staff and customers following data breach

National pub operator JD Wetherspoon is the latest company to be involved in a hacking scandal following a data breach this week.

In a company statement, JD Wetherspoon said the information was obtained from its old website, which has been replaced in its entirety. The company’s current website is managed by a new digital partner, which has no connection to the website that was the subject of the breach of security.

Wetherspoon has alerted customers to the situation by email and has also instructed a leading cyber security specialist to conduct a full forensic investigation into the breach.

Although the company assures that no financial data was involved in the hacking and no passwords were obtained for any customers, it admits that credit/debit card details of 100 customers were accessed.

However, JD Wetherspoon said only the last four digits of the card numbers were obtained, since the remaining digits were not stored in the database.Other information, such as the customer name and the expiry date was not compromised. As a result, these credit/debit card details cannot, on their own, be used for fraudulent purposes.

It admits that some personal staff details were accessed but none financial.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which regulates data protection, has been notified of the breach.

Wetherspoon chief executive John Hutson said: “We apologise wholeheartedly to customers and staff who have been affected.

“Unfortunately, hacking is becoming more and more sophisticated and widespread. We are determined to respond to this by increasing our efforts and investment in security and will be doing everything possible to prevent a recurrence.”

Earlier this year, telecommunications company TalkTalk fell victim to hackers, as the personal and financial details of thousands of customers were leaked online. Online payment company, PayPal has also experienced security breeches in the last few months, as customers are encouraged to change passwords and details to avoid being scammed.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .