Carphone Warehouse Data Breach: Hackers Accessed 2.4 Million Customers' Bank Details, Personal Information

The personal details of some 2.4 million customers of British company Carphone Warehouse were accessed by hackers, the cell phone retailer said, the BBC reported Saturday. Bank details and encrypted credit card information was reportedly accessed in the cyberattack.

The company said the credit card information of as many as 90,000 people was involved. Further, their personal details of as many as 2.4 million customers were accessed, including names, addresses, dates of birth and bank details, the company said according to the Telegraph.

The cyberattack apparently targeted the IT systems of the company's UK division within the last two weeks. That division maintains the website OneStopPhoneShop.com, e2save.com and Mobiles.co.uk, all of which were shut down Saturday. The IT division also provides services to TalkTalk Mobile, Talk Mobile and Carphone Warehouse's iD Mobile, which was launched in April.

"We are, of course, informing anyone that may have been affected, and have put in place additional security measures," Sebastian James, chief executive officer of the retailer's owner -- Dixons Carphone -- said, the BBC reported. "We take the security of customer data extremely seriously, and we are very sorry that people have been affected by this attack on our systems."

The company first became aware of the problem Wednesday, the BBC reported. The company reportedly sent an email to anyone affected by the attack, alerting them to the situation and telling customers to be skeptical of any phone calls purportedly from the websites or services involved in the attack. Customers have been told to notify their banks and to monitor their finances for any suspicious activity.

Dixons Carphone also owns Curry and PC World after a $4 billion merger last year. Information for customers of Currys and PC World -- along with the "vast majority" of Carphone Warehouse customer data -- had not been affected because it was held on separate systems, the company said, according to the Telegraph.