Vodafone Says Hackers Broke Into Almost 2,000 Customer Accounts This Week

LONDON (Reuters) -- Vodafone UK said Saturday hackers had accessed the accounts of 1,827 of its customers this week, the second cyberattack on a British telecommunications company this month. The attackers had potentially gained access to the victims' bank sort codes and the last four numbers of their bank accounts, along with their names and mobile telephone numbers, a Vodafone representative said.

"This incident was driven by criminals using email addresses and passwords acquired from an unknown source external to Vodafone," the representative said in a statement.

Only a handful of those affected in the Thursday morning attack had seen any attempts to use their data for fraudulent activity on their Vodafone accounts.

"No credit- or debit-card numbers or details were obtained. However, this information does leave these 1,827 customers open to fraud and might also leave them open to phishing attempts," the representative said. He added that the company was contacting all those involved and that other customers need not be concerned.

Last week, broadband, television, mobile and fixed-line service provider TalkTalk said it had been hacked, potentially putting the private details of its 4 million customers into the hands of criminals. Less than 21,000 unique bank account numbers and sort codes had been accessed. Two teenagers have been arrested in connection with that attack.

(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)