Talk Talk will waive cancellation fees, IF you can prove you were a victim of fraud

Talk Talk will only waive cancellation fees for customers who can prove they were victims of fraud

TALK TALK will allow victims of the devastating cyber attack to leave their contract without paying a termination fee.

 

Home broadband provider Talk Talk has started to inform its customers about the process in place for those who were victims of the cyber attack.

The internet firm will waive the termination fee for any customers who wish to cancel their contract with Talk Talk – but there is a catch.

Talk Talk will only waive the fee for customers who can prove they have had money stolen from them as a result of the cyber attack which took place on October 21st 2015.

 

The news comes after police arrested a 15-year-old boy in Northern Ireland in connection with a huge cyber attack.

The teenager, who has not been publicly named, has since been released on bail after his home – a small terraced property on a housing estate in Northern Ireland – was searched by police.

Home broadband provider Talk Talk had previously claimed names, addresses, phone numbers and credit card and account numbers were stolen in the attack – believed to be one of the biggest in British history.

However the firm later clarified that credit and debit card numbers were obfuscated, and any bank account details that were stolen were not sufficient for criminals to access accounts.

 

Talk Talk pulled its website as soon as it realised the cyber attack was underway

"In the unlikely event that money is stolen from a customer's bank account as a direct result of the cyber attack (rather than as a result of any other information given out by a customer) then as a gesture of goodwill, on a case-by-case basis, we will waive termination fees," Talk Talk confirmed late on Monday.

"Bank account numbers and sort codes (as you would find printed on a cheque) may have been accessed. 

"But without more information, criminals can’t use these to take money from your bank account. Even then, the chances are very small indeed," the firm adds.

For Talk Talk to consider your request to leave without a termination fee, customers will need to meet the following criteria:

• You have had money taken from your account without your consent and you have incurred a financial loss as as result
• The money was taken on or after the 21st October 2015
• Contacted Action Fraud UK and obtained a Crime Reference Number

 

Talk Talk Telecom Group Plc Chief Executive Officer Dido Harding speaking during an interview

The move upset many TalkTalk customers, who complained on forums on the company's website, but will relieve investors worried that the group would face an exodus of customers if it waived charges.

The attack, which experts said seemed to use well-established and unsophisticated hacking techniques, will however prompt questions as to how strong the firm's security was, especially as it was the third such incident to hit the firm this year.

Experts believe the website was hacked into via a SQL injection technique, which typically inserts malicious code into an entry field of a Web form in order to seize control of the database underpinning the site.

 

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, in which thousands of infected computers are targeted at a particular computer or website, could have also played a role, but mainly as a means of distracting the company's security personnel.

"DDoS and SQL injection attacks are relatively unsophisticated," said Graham Cluley, UK security expert, adding that they were relatively simple to pull off.