Flutter Entertainment’s Betfair and Paddy Power have reached out to customers in the wake of a major data breach.
On July 8, Flutter Entertainment warned about a ‘security incident’ affecting Betfair and Paddy Power customers, stating that users’ personal information, including usernames, email addresses and first lines of home addresses and cities, had been compromised. Now, the two betting brands have reached out to customers in the wake of the incident.
“We recently detected that an unauthorised third party had gained access to limited betting account information related to some of our customers,” reads the statement from Betfair, with an almost identical statement sent from Paddy Power.
“Immediately upon becoming aware of this incident, we initiated a full investigation, supported by leading IT security experts, to terminate the unauthorised access, fully contain the threat and protect our networks and our customers.
“We have informed relevant regulators and authorities and will continue to engage with them as required,” it continued.
“Once the unauthorised access was removed and the incident fully contained, we immediately launched a full evaluation of the affected information, with our teams working to understand what customer information may have been involved.”
The information has now been confirmed to be limited to people’s names and the first line of addresses and city, as well as some recent activity on your account and technical data like device IDs and IP addresses. However, both companies maintain that no passwords, ID documents or any usable card or payment details have been shared.
What do Betfair and Paddy Power customers need to do?
Both companies reassure customers that no action needs to be taken now. Nonetheless, they both highlight the need to stay safe online, especially when it comes to sharing payment information or sensitive data.
“We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this incident may have caused,” the statement concludes. “Safeguarding and securing your personal information is of the utmost importance to us.”
This comes one month on from a wave of 250 redundancies at betting giant Flutter.
Featured image: Flickr, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
