Contact details of around 800,000 Swisscom customers accessed
Unknown persons improperly obtained the contact details of around 800,000 Swisscom customers in the fall of 2017. To do so, they had stolen the access rights of a sales partner of the telecom giant. Swisscom is now tightening its security measures.
According to Swisscom, the data concerned is "personal data that does not require special protection", namely name, address, telephone number and date of birth, according to a statement on Wednesday.
Passwords, call or payment data are not affected. Stricter protection mechanisms have been in place for a long time, Swisscom states. Nevertheless, the clarification of this case has the highest priority for Swisscom. As an immediate measure, the company blocked the affected accesses of the partner company.
In addition, access by partner companies will now be monitored more closely; in the event of unusual activities, an alarm will be triggered and access blocked. Furthermore, large-scale queries of all customer data will be technically prevented in the future. In 2018, two-factor authentication will be introduced for all necessary data access by sales partners.
Swisscom discovered the incident as part of a routine review of its operating activities and had it investigated in detail internally, it adds. The telecom provider emphasizes that the system was not hacked. Swisscom is reviewing all legal steps and reserves the right to file criminal charges.
There are no indications that customers have suffered any damage, the statement said. To date, Swisscom has not noticed any increase in advertising calls or other activities to the detriment of affected customers. Mobile customers can send an SMS with the keyword "Info" to the number 444 to find out if their data has been affected. Unusual occurrences can be reported to Swisscom. (SDA)
