A FIFTEEN-year-old Irish boy has been arrested in connection with a serious data breach of telecommunications giant TalkTalk.
News that a cyber-attack on the company’s system left the bank details and personal information of up to four 4million people vulnerable to hackers broke last week.
A combined investigation by PSNI and Scotland Yard, led to a Co. Antrim address being searched yesterday afternoon at 4.20pm, resulting in the arrest of a 15-year-old boy.
He was arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences and is being held in custody at a Co. Antrim police station.
The “significant and sustained” hack on the TalkTalk on October 21 meant that the names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, email addresses and bank and credit card details were left open to hackers.
“We know this has been a worrying time for customers and we are grateful for the swift response and hard work of the police,” the London-headquartered company said in a statement yesterday.
“We will continue to assist in the ongoing investigation.”
It is unclear how many of TalkTalk’s four million customers have been effected by the cyber-attack but the British company issued a statement at the weekend to address people’s fears.
“We now expect the amount of financial information that may have been accessed to be materially lower than initially believed and would on its own not enable a criminal to take money from your account,” it said.
The 15-year-old is expected to be interviewed by PSNI detectives later today.
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