Southern Water has published an update on its investigation relating to the illegal cyber attack at the start of this year.
Earlier this year the water company announced that it had been the target of an illegal cyber attack. which resulted in unauthorised access to its IT systems. As soon as this was discovered, Southern Water took steps to isolate the threat and enhance security to protect data and systems. Operations and services to customers have not been impacted.
Following an in-depth investigation, which is now complete, the company identified that some data was potentially accessed. However, since Southern Water was first named by the cyber criminals on 22 January 2024, it has found no evidence that this has been made available online.
Working with independent technical advisers, Southern Water has now concluded its in-depth investigation of the potentially compromised data and is taking any remaining steps to notify affected customers, employees and former employees.
The number of customers notified of an impact on their data will remain within the order of 5% to 10% of the customer base, as announced previously.
Southern Water is continuing to monitor the internet, commenting:
“We are confident that, since we were named on the cyber criminals’ site on 22 January 2024, no data linked to the attack has been made available online.
“We are very sorry that this has happened. Please be assured that if we have reason to believe your data may be impacted, we will notify you, in line with our regulatory obligations.”
The company has published the following list of frequently asked questions and answers that customers can access online.
What happened?
Why has it taken so long to tell me about the cyber incident?
Is the cyber incident over?
What else can I do to protect myself against fraud?
How do I accept the offer of ID monitoring services and what happens next?
How do I request additional Experian Identity Plus codes?
What’s included in the Experian monitoring service?
Can I create and monitor an Experian services account on behalf of someone else?
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