Permission email marketing outsourcer Epsilon have announced a data breach which could affect millions of people. In a short statement, they announced that the breach affects a ‘subset' of its customer data, but has yet to disclose the full extent of the problem.
The unauthorised entry into its email system gained access ‘only' to customer names and email addresses, the company said in their statement. This is worrying as Epsilon deliver more than 40 billion emails every year, so a ‘subset' of the clients database could actually be very substantial.
Epsilon customers are known to include Capital One, TiVo, Walgreens, Marriott Rewards, Citibank, JP Morgan and Kroger. MSNBC reported that data which was breached from Marriott Rewards actually showed more than just name and email addresses, it included member point balances.
Many of the companies who are expected to have breached data have already sent out information to customers asking them to be on the alert for phishing attempts.
KitGuru says: This could be more serious than first indicated.