Dixons admits 15.9m customers had personal details exposed

DIXONS CARPHONE has admitted that details belonging to almost 16m of its customers were exposed in two data breaches last year.

The electronics retailer, which owns Currys PC World and Carphone Warehouse, said around 10m records containing personal data may have been accessed in 2017, up from an initial estimate of 1.2m people.

It said the data was non-financial information such as names and addresses, and there was no evidence any of the records had been used for fraud. But it will write to affected customers after finding signs that some of the data had left its systems.

Separately, Dixons Carphone has been investigating “an attempt to compromise” 5.9m credit cards, bringing the total number of records affected to 15.9m. It said the credit cards were mostly protected by chip and pin.

Alex Baldock, the company’s chief executive, said: “Again, we’re disappointed in having fallen short here, and very sorry for any distress we’ve caused our customers. I want to assure them that we remain fully committed to making their personal data safe with us.”

Mr Baldock said it had closed off unauthorised access to its systems and invested in new security measures.

The company was fined £400,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) earlier this year for a data breach in 2015 affecting 3m Carphone Warehouse customers.

The data watchdog said its investigation into the latest data breach was ongoing and it would “take time to assess this new information”.

It has refused to rule out investigating the company under the new European General Data Protection Regulation.

This would mean the retailer could be fined up to 4pc of its global revenues, or £420m in the case of Dixons Carphone.

However, it is expected that the company will be assessed under the old rules because the data breach occurred before the new legislation was introduced in May.

That would raise the prospect of a smaller fine of up to half a million pounds.

Telecoms firm Talktalk was hit with a record £400,000 penalty from the ICO for security failings linked to a massive cyber attack in October 2015.

Mr Baldock said he had received a “lively induction” since joining Dixons Carphone in April, but was confident in the long-term prospects of the business.

Britain’s biggest electricals retailer announced a 28pc fall in pre-tax profits to £289m last month, as it battled a weaker mobile phone market and higher costs.

Profits are set to fall again this year as the company plans to spend more on customer service to make up for what Mr Baldock said was a failure to invest by his predecessor Sebastian James.

He said the company had strong market positions and there was opportunity to provide a “clearer direction and a sharper focus” on its core operations.