After being hit by a cyber-attack that saw hackers access the details of thousands of its customers, TalkTalk has come out with an offer of compensation. But is it enough?
TalkTalk has today said it will take a hit of up to £35m after last month’s data breach. The attack saw the details of 156,959 customers (including names, emails and phone numbers) and 15,656 bank account numbers accessed by hackers.
Compensation for TalkTalk customers
The telecoms company previously offered 12 months of free credit monitoring alerts. But for customers who wanted leave, TalkTalk said it would only waive termination fees for customers who had had money stolen directly from their account.
Quite frankly, that was the bare minimum. We’ve previously said that all affected customers should be able to leave their contract without penalty, and that TalkTalk should consider offering appropriate compensation.
And on that final point, TalkTalk has today announced an offer of free upgrades for its customers (without any additional commitments).
TalkTalk’s chief exec Dido Harding said:
‘In recognition of the unavoidable uncertainty, and because we know that doing what is right for our customers will ensure the best possible outcome for the company over the longer term, we are today announcing the offer of a choice of free upgraded services to all our customers.’
Free upgrades for TalkTalk customers
So what’s on offer? You’ll be able to add one of the following to your existing service: TV content including movies and sports; a mobile SIM with free texts, data and calls; unlimited UK landline and mobile calls; or a broadband health check.
The upgrades are open to all of TalkTalk’s customers, not just those affected by the hack, from 1 December.
The question is – do you think this is enough? Is a TV, mobile or landline package upgrade enough to appease you after TalkTalk’s data breach? Are you a customer that’s seriously considering leaving, or are you happy with how TalkTalk has dealt with the cyber-attack?
Do you think that TalkTalk's compensation offer is enough for its customers?
No (83%, 4,254 Votes)
Yes (10%, 529 Votes)
Don't know (7%, 345 Votes)
Total Voters: 5,128
Loading ...Update: 6 October 2016
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a record £400,000 fine to TalkTalk for its failure to protect customer data, after its data breach last October.
According to the ICO, security failings by TalkTalk allowed a hacker to access customer data ‘with ease’. The investigation by the ICO found that customer data was taken from a database that was inherited when TalkTalk acquired Tiscali in 2009. The attacker targeted three vulnerable webpages allowing customers names, address, dates of birth, phone numbers, email address, as well as some 15,000 bank account details and sort codes.
Our Managing Director of Home & Legal Services, Alex Neill, said:
‘It is right that the ICO has slapped this record fine on TalkTalk for failing to protect their customers’ data. However, this will be cold comfort for TalkTalk customers who suffered at the hands of this breach and feel they haven’t been treated fairly. Businesses must do more to help individuals affected by data breaches.’
Do you think that TalkTalk’s £400,000 fine accurately reflects the loss of over 150,000 people’s data including over 15,000 bank account details?
