Millions affected by Dixons Carphone data breach

Dixons Carphone has released a statement to announce that a data breach that took place in 2017 involved 10 million customers, up from the 1.2 million originally estimated.

The statement includes the sentence: 'While there is now evidence that some of this data may have left our systems, these records do not contain payment card or bank account details and there is no evidence that any fraud has resulted. We are continuing to keep the relevant authorities updated,'

"Preventing fraud before it happens without jumping at every shadow is a challenge that AI is helping us tackle without wasting time and money."

The fraud may have been stopped in its tracks by the chip and PIN system, which has been in widespread use in the UK, and seems to have prevented the attackers from accessing full card records from compromised databases. Dixons Carphone CEO Alex Baldock has been on a damage limitation exercise to reassure customers that new security systems have been put in place to safeguard data, and to prevent future attacks. 

How is the Process Excellence community responding to the challenges of an environment in which data has both an enormous value that needs to be safeguarded, while customers demand easy and frictionless access to their information? As Loren Bishop, VP, Director of Lean Management Office at State Street, says in the upcoming PEX Report,

'There is a level of confidence that comes through a level of familiarization with technology... As a financial service institution, some clients are interested in having access to their information via a mobile device, and others show a great deal of concern about whether it’s acceptable. Data security is a huge focus for us and continues to be as we push the boundaries of technology we’re investing in safe guards to make sure the data we have is looked after.' 

Elsewhere in the Report, Thierry Derungs, BNP Paribas Wealth Management Chief Digital Officer, says: 'Fraud management is really moving to a much more advanced area allowing us to be faster in spotting and stemming frauds that are happening across the world. Fraudsters will always try to find and exploit weaknesses in a system. Preventing fraud before it happens without jumping at every shadow is a challenge that AI is helping us tackle without wasting time and money.'

Consumer group Which? has produced a guide on your rights if your data has been stolen.