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Comment: Wonga’s data breach from Smoothwall
April 2017 by David Navin, Corporate Security Specialist at Smoothwall
Following the news that Wonga had suffered a data breach which has affected over 250,000 of its customers, we have comment from David Navin, Corporate Security Specialist at Smoothwall below should you wish to use it:
“With the financial muscle and power of payday lender Wonga in the market, interest was always going to be high for threat actors. In another blow to a seemingly endless battle for companies vs. customers’ data, Wonga is the latest to suffer a breach of information, potentially affecting more than a quarter of a million customers’ data. TalkTalk, Three Mobile and Yahoo are the biggest names that come to mind with recent data hacks, but consumers will certainly be less understanding when a payday lender is breached. The Wonga brand has been actively trying to improve its image in recent years, but the data breach is a setback that could cost the company dear; any organisation where a consumer’s financial assets are at risk could see trust erode and see consumers use alternative companies.
“No company is immune to the threats of cybercrime, and every business should have the most robust security system in place to prevent a hack, breach or leak and safeguard their data should an incident occur. The company must review its internal security systems promptly to ensure they have a layered security defence spanning encryption, firewalls, web filtering and ongoing threat monitoring as well as a proactive stance against threat actors. Hackers will certainly have fun taking controversial companies like Wonga for a ride, but it’s now up to them to get to the root of the hack, start a proper investigation and ensure that this is the last time a breach of this – or any – magnitude happens.”
