Virgin Media has admitted that a database containing the contact details of 900,000 people was left unsecured for 10 months.
The database had been used for marketing purposes and did not include any financial details or passwords and the company released a statement on Thursday, saying the problem had been “immediately solved”.
In the aftermath of the data leak, Virgin Media CEO Lutz Schuler said: “We are now contacting those affected to inform them of what happened.
“We urge people to remain cautious before clicking on an unknown link or giving any details to an unverified or unknown party.
“Online security advice and help on a range of topics is available on our website.
Uswitch.com telecoms expert Ernest Doku said: “Almost a million Virgin Media customers will be rightly concerned to learn that their personal data has been accessible and unsecure since last summer.
“Ten months is a long time for information useful to scammers, like phone numbers and email addresses, to be left available online.
“While it’s fortunate that only one ‘unknown user’ accessed the information in that time, it only takes one person to sell that information to cyber-criminals.
“Virgin Media will undoubtedly review its policies to make sure that this doesn’t happen again, and reassure its customers that their data is safe.
“If you have been affected by this data breach, be wary of any emails from unexpected sources, and never click on any links in messages that you aren’t 100 per cent confident about.”
