Costa Data breach puts thousands of Whitbread employees at risk
Costa Coffee’s parent company Whitbread was hit earlier this month by an enormous data breach after the supplier of their HR software was the victim of hackers. Australian firm PageUp, who supply recruitment software to Whitbread, confirmed that they were investigating a security incident where an unauthorised person or group gained access to their systems.
PageUp warned its clients that people who had applied for jobs using its software could be affected. Also affected could be the employees of clients who used the software, meaning many HR staff at Whitbread companies could also be at risk.
The list of compromised data is lengthy and opens doors for further breaches of individual security. The breached data includes:
· Names
· Dates of Birth
· Nationalities
· Genders
· Physical addresses
· Email addresses
· Telephone numbers
· Employment information
Not included in the list is financial information, contracts, CVs, and performance reviews, which all remained untouched during the breach. PageUp confirmed that they have improved their security capabilities with new safeguards put in place to prevent further incidents. Whitbread has since confirmed that all affected parties had been notified but have not yet stated how many UK employees have been affected.
Despite no financial data being taken, this breach gave the hackers enough information to carry out more sophisticated attacks against the affected individuals. This should serve as a warning to businesses UK-wide that data security has become a huge part of daily operations.
ITPro advises businesses of all sizes to make the security of critical personal information a priority. Making sure your security technology and protocol is up to standard could be the difference between a disruptive data breach or secure business continuity.
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