People caught up in the suspected data breach at Electric Ireland may have to cancel the debit and credit cards that was used to pay their energy bills.
It has also be reported that customers might have to go back two years to check if their bank accounts have been hacked.
According to the Sunday World, an individual at a call centre used by Electric Ireland gained access to the financial and other details of 8,000 customers of the energy supplier.
The 8,000 people whose details were hacked were written to this week and told about the breach and informed that their financial information may have been compromised.
Customers affected by the breach have been told to change their passwords. They have also been asked to regularly monitor their accounts.
Personal details including name and address, email, phone number, date of birth and bank account details (IBAN) may also have ended up in the wrong hands.
Gardaí have been called in to investigate the data breach.
Those impacted were told in the letter from Electric Ireland to “cancel the credit/debit card(s) that was used to make payments to Electric Ireland”.
They were also told to “review your relevant bank account and credit card statements since October 2021, to identify if there is any suspicious activity which may indicate that your account has been compromised and subject to fraud”.
The ESB-owned company said: “Our investigations have established that approximately 8,000 customer accounts may have been compromised.”
Customers who have not received a letter from Electric Ireland do not need to take any action, it said.
In September, Electric Ireland apologised and said it was refunding customers after it miscalculated their electricity bills and overcharged them.
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