Most of the people fail to understand that information in the digital arena doesn’t die and lives forever. Same goes true for the personal information collected by the websites and companies at the time of buying any product or service. A large group of people comprising of earlier users of TalkTalk had fallen victim to the cyber attack on the telecom provider. Hackers had successfully snooped of millions of customer information during this latest cyber attack. TalkTalk has confirmed that more than four million users number had been affected with this hacking scandal.

A large number of former customers get affected by hack

Broadband industry has seen a habit among the customer to switch between different service providers on annual basis. Around 16 to 25 percent of customer base of every broadband service is lost due to switching habit. In this recent hack scenario, the inclusion of the former customers in the hacking scandal will increase the total number of affected customers. TalkTalk has also confirmed that it has been unable to contact the earlier customers in order to warn them about the risks of latest hacking.

The data lost by the TalkTalk in the cyber attack mainly includes the recent and ex-subscriber personal details such as names, dates of birth, addresses and account numbers. If it reaches in the wrong hands then it will be nightmare for the TalkTalk former and current customers.

TalkTalk eager to help its customers

TalkTalk has been operating since 2006 and it is very likely that some former user’s data might be stored on the website. It is quite easier to pull the current customer details but same doesn’t go for the former customers. TalkTalk is carrying out extensive investigation to understand the impact of the hacking scandal and it will get in touch with the former customers directly to addresses any privacy issues.

If any earlier or current customer has concerns regarding anything then TlakTalk is ready to listen to them. Most of the affected users had reported about receiving scam calls from Asian countries like India and China where caller happens to know the exact name along with account details.

Things can go really bad for TalkTalk

TalkTalk can face a compensation bill which can run into millions of dollars for the customers whose bank accounts were raided after stealing of personal data through cyber attack on company’s website. It is worth noting that TalkTalk has been targeted as many as three times in the last three months. Currently this hack and theft of personal data of customers is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police. It has been established that the credit card details obtained during this attack is insufficient in making any transaction, which is sign of relief for the former customers.

Many politicians have raised the voice for making it compulsory for the companies to encrypt the data of their customers for protection purposes. However, security services are opposed to this view, as it will much difficult to track crime and terrorism in normal fashion.