Breach, Data Security

Virgin Media email blunder leads to breach, may affect 130k

One of the world's largest media and telecom companies had to apologize to thousands of its customers because of an email snafu by one of its suppliers.

A Virgin Media supplier mistakenly sent out a message that if replied to via the ‘reply all' option would then be sent to all others in the group, according to a report by The Daily Mail.

If a customer who received the email replied to all, their individual email address would be visible to all recipients to see. This issue only affected those with a Virgin.net account. More than 130,000 people may have been affected by the gaffe.

According to a statement by a Virgin Media spokesperson, the company apologized for the breach and is currently investigating the matter. It strongly encouraged users to not reply to the email.


[A previous version of this article has been updated to indicate that only customers who replied all to the message would have their individual email address visible to recipients.]

Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.