TalkTalk Labour MP Keith Vaz quickly replied to the accusations explaining that such claims are unacceptable and unfair. TalkTalk first alerted Scotland Yard and all the major banks before releasing details surrounding the nature of the hack attack. The fact that jihadists are behind the attack was not disclosed by TalkTalk but rather deduced from a post made to the website PasteBin. There the poster appears to have supplied a portion of the data stolen from TalkTalk along with a claim of responsibility on behalf of Islamist extremists.
Names, telephone numbers, addresses, credit card numbers, dates of birth and bank details are all at risk. There is also the chance that the details of former customers were also leaked. Reports already show that criminals have began contacting some of the 4 million affected customers. One of the victims is Iain Frater, a trainee doctor from Glasgow. He detailed his experience in an interview: ‘They slowed my internet down then phoned pretending to be TalkTalk support. They had all the details you would expect, including name, address, phone number and account number. The guy really sounded like he was in a TalkTalk call centre.” Mr Frater eventually became suspicious and tried to end the call but at this point the fraudsters resorted to intimidation as they warned the man that his computer was at risk of exploding. Investigations are continuing to find and catch who was behind the attack.
