Happy Valentines to Tesco.com users! The supermarket has been forced to suspend user accounts on Tesco.com as some reprobate hackers have accessed the site and posted the personal details of over 2,200 accounts of registered users online.
Tesco has been forced to deactivate online customer accounts after hackers took aim at its systems today. Tesco has confirmed that over 2,200 of its accounts were compromised and whilst it’s believed that the hackers did not break the Tesco systems, they instead used data collected from other hacks to see if they could get any hits.
What this means is that the affected Tesco.com accounts used the same password and email combination from other websites that have previously been hacked. The list of over 2,000 Tesco.com internet shopping accounts was posted online by hackers on Thursday, which revealed a host of information about customers including personal details and Tesco Clubcard voucher details.
A Tesco spokesman said in a statement to The Guardian – “We take the security of our customers’ data extremely seriously and are urgently investigating these claims”. He continued, “[we have] contacted all customers who may have been affected and are committed to ensuring that none of them miss out as a result of this. We will issue replacement vouchers to the very small number who are affected,”.
Currently Tesco has shut down online account access to solve the issues, which will undoubtedly annoy many users looking to do the weekly online shop this afternoon.
Many people will commonly use the same password and email address combination on many websites for ease of use, but with major hacks like this happening more regularly, the hack yesterday shows the deeper implications of your details being stolen.
Simply put, if you use the same login/password combination on many websites, all it takes is one security breach to provide access to most of your online and personal information across numerous sites.
If you have a Tesco.com account now may be the time to go change your password.