TalkTalk says only four percent of its four million customer accounts were stolen during the cyberattack that breached its corporate defences last month.
The embattled telecoms firm says "the total number of customers whose personal details were accessed is 156,959", much lower than originally feared.
"It was a difficult decision to notify all our customers of the risk before we could establish the real extent of any data loss," states the firm in an update on its Website. "We believe we had a responsibility to warn customers ahead of having the clarity we are finally able to give today. "
Nonetheless, the company advises all customers to be vigilant and to take action to protect themselves from scam phone calls and e-mails, as the media continues to report on the plight of customers who have lost funds over this and other past breaches involving the firm.
TalkTalk has said:
- 156,959 customers’ personal details were accessed
- 15,656 bank account numbers and sort codes were accessed
- 28,000 obscured credit and debit card numbers accessed cannot be used for financial transactions, and were ‘orphaned’, meaning that customers cannot be identified by the stolen data
A Metropolitan Police investigation into the attack has so far led to four arrests, three of whom were teeenagers.