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Payday loan firm Wonga<\/a>\u00a0has suffered a data breach affecting up to 245,000 customers in the UK. A further 25,000 customers in Poland may also be affected, according to the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n A notification<\/a>\u00a0on Wonga\u2019s\u00a0UK website currently warns of\u00a0\u201cillegal and unauthorised access to limited personal data\u201d, and says affected customers have been emailed about the breach.<\/p>\n According to an FAQ page on its website<\/a>\u00a0the types of personal data that\u00a0may have been compromised\u00a0includes names, email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers, the last four digits of bank\u00a0card numbers (but not the whole number) and\/or bank account numbers and sort codes.<\/p>\n It says it does not believe customers\u2019 Wonga account passwords were compromised but suggests concerned users change their\u00a0password anyway.<\/p>\n Wonga is\u00a0warning affected customers to be \u201cextra vigilant\u201d and to alert their bank of potential risk \u2014 though it is says it will also be contacting financial institutions about the breach.<\/p>\n Given that the last four digits of bank cards can use as\u00a0part of the login process for online accounts there\u2019s a potential risk that breached data could be used to try to log into customers\u2019 bank accounts.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve reached out to Wonga with questions and will update this story with any response. Update:<\/strong> In a statement a spokesperson for the\u00a0company told us: \u201cWonga is urgently investigating illegal and unauthorised access to the personal data of some of its customers in the UK and Poland. We are working closely with authorities and we are in the process of informing affected customers. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused.\u201d<\/p>\n There are no details about\u00a0how the breach happened at this point, with Wonga saying only on its website that it is\u00a0\u201curgently working to establish further details\u201d, and making a\u00a0generic statement about the rise of \u201cincreasingly sophisticated\u201d cyber\u00a0attacks.<\/p>\n According to the Guardian<\/a>, the company became aware of a problem last week but only realized on Friday that data could be accessed externally, and only started contacting affected customers on Saturday. The UK\u2019s data protection regulator, the ICO, has apparently been informed of the breach.<\/p>\n New European Union-wide rules on data breaches<\/a>\u00a0coming into force in May 2018 will require companies to swiftly (within 72 hours) notify data protection authorities of data breaches involving financial information \u2014 with fines of up to \u20ac10 million or 2 per cent of a company\u2019s\u00a0global turnover for failures of compliance.<\/p>\n This is by no means the first time Wonga has attracted\u00a0negative headlines. Back in 2014<\/a>\u00a0the company\u00a0had to write down $340 million in unpaid loans, following an\u00a0investigation by the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority over its lending practices. It\u00a0was also fined by the regulator\u00a0for\u00a0sending fake lawyers\u2019 letters to customers in arrears<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although Wonga\u00a0attracted substantial tech investment<\/a>\u00a0for a real-time automated decision-making platform for affordability checks, it\u00a0ended up having to\u00a0write off the loans of\u00a0330,000 customers, and waive the interest and fees for a further 45,000 \u2014 raising questions about the efficacy of its\u00a0algorithms.<\/p>\n Tightened\u00a0criteria on short term loans\u00a0by the UK financial regulator ultimately shrunk the size of Wonga\u2019s\u00a0business, which saw losses double in 2015 \u2014\u00a0to \u00a380.2M.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/04\/screen-shot-2017-04-10-at-9-14-03-am.png?w=680\")
Payday loan firm Wonga has suffered a data breach affecting up to 245,000 customers in the UK. A further 25,000 customers in Poland may also be affected, according to the BBC. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/img><\/a>
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