MediaWorks investigates breach
Personal data of 2.4m Kiwis allegedly stolen by hackers
MediaWorks is investigating the alleged hacking of data belonging to more than 2.4 million people – including phone numbers, email addresses and even the way they voted on shows such as The Block over a number of years.
The alleged stolen data is being offered for sale on the dark web.
“On Friday, MediaWorks became aware of claims that it had been impacted by a cyber security incident,” a spokeswoman said yesterday. “MediaWorks takes data security seriously and our technology team is investigating this potential incident with the support of external experts.”
All current competition entries had been moved to a new secure computer database on Friday night, the company said.
The alleged hacker claims to have data from 2.461 million New Zealand citizens. They claim to have, among other information, names, home addresses, mobile numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, home phone numbers, user postal codes, user genders, and user IDs.
They also claim to have private information, including some questionnaire answers, and people’s videos and music materials.
Among examples of the alleged data hacked is how people voted on The Block between 2017 and 2020. MediaWorks owned and operated the Three television brand before Discovery took ownership later in 2020.
MediaWorks owns and operates a suite of entertainment radio stations including More FM, The Rock, The Breeze, George FM, Mai, Magic and The Sound. It also runs an outdoor advertising arm.
The hacker is trying to sell the data.
A separate screengrab of information reveals a page of people’s names, postal addresses, email addresses and phone numbers – and how they responded to a recent question on a MediaWorks radio station about which Dragon concert they’d like to attend in 2024.
A spokesman for the Privacy Commissioner said yesterday Mediaworks had not yet notified its office of the privacy breach. “We expect they would do this if it were a verified breach.
“As with any breach, MediaWorks would need to investigate to fully ascertain the size and scope
Our technology team is investigating this potential incident . . .
MediaWorks spokesperson
of the breach and any impact on its New Zealand clients.
“Our focus in this situation is to provide agencies who have experienced a breach with advice on how [to] minimise the harm caused by the breach on any individuals impacted.” Police have been contacted for comment.
Netsafe chief executive Brent Carey said anyone who thought they might be caught up in the alleged hack should change the passwords to any email accounts that might have been associated with MediaWorks competitions.
He urged people to go to the Have I Been Pwned website to check on the status of their email address. “That will list all the data breaches that could be associated with the email address.” People could also make a request to the MediaWorks privacy officer, asking for all the private information the company has on record about them.
People could also contact Netsafe (0508 638 723 or help@netsafe.org. nz) if they needed further advice.