Posted on March 13, 2021 at 5:26 PM
Over 400,000 Online Deliveries Breached in Fastway Couriers Database
Fastway Couriers has reported a data breach that resulted in the exposure of over 440,000 online deliveries. The courier firm said it has reported the incident to the Office of Data Protection Commission and investigation has already commenced.
“The cyber-attack was identified by Fastway’s third-party IT development contractor on February 25th,” the company stated. However, the third-party contractor contacted Fastway to report the breach on March 2.
It was disclosed that the violation happened last month as the hackers took advantage of a maintenance routine the firm was carrying on a database server. The breached information contains phone numbers, names, email accounts, and home addresses of the affected customers.
However, the report stated that customers’ financial information or passwords were not compromised during the breach.
Investigation of the breach is ongoing
A spokesperson of the commission has confirmed that the breach was reported by Fastway Couriers and investigations are ongoing to access the incident.
It’s also known that the affected customers during the data compromise were involved in inbound online purchases within Ireland and other countries.
The compromised data relates to Fastway deliveries, both for undelivered and in-flight parcels for 30 days from January, the report reveals.
Graham Doyle, the Assistant data commissioner, stated that the investigation will reveal what happened and how the hackers were able to succeed in their attack.
The report revealed that there were 446,143 parcel deliveries affected across Ireland as a result of the breach.
Fastway assures customers of account safety
Chief Executive Officer of Fastway Danny Hughes commented on the breach, stating that it’s unfortunate its systems were compromised by hackers. He added that the incident is distressing, especially as the country is always careful about its data protection responsibility.
He apologized on behalf of the company and promised to mitigate the effect of the breach as much as possible.
Hughes added that customers should not be worried that their financial details are at risk because such details were not exposed during the breach.
“I want to stress that nobody’s financial data was at risk and the issue is limited to delivery information only,” he reiterated.
He added that the company is closely working with the commission and its clients to manage the situation while following best practices.
Fastway has also engaged an IT firm to independently assess the situation and provide the best solution to mitigate losses.
The company has over 7,200 clients, and 20 of them are large online retailers. Littlewoods Ireland, which was one of the affected retailers, had previously informed its customers about the breach.
Fastway has its headquarters in Dublin and currently operates 15 other outlets across the country.
Apart from Ireland its headquartered country, Fastway also operates in South Africa, Northern Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia.
The company has been operating as a franchise since 1983. In 2016, it was acquired by Aramex, a global transport and logistics player.
Part of the acquisition will make Fastway rebrand to Aramex in some regions such as New Zealand and Australia. Fastway Couriers also want to enter a joint venture with Australian Post to target the global e-commerce marketplace.
The execution of the partnership with be based on the acquisition of the StarTrack international business of Australia Post by the newly-formed JV. After the completion of the deal, Fastway may be looking to expand to other territories and regions.
The hacking attempt on Fastway is seen as a major setback towards the entire plans of the company. But the company is assuring users and customers that its parcel delivery system is safe and secure, despite the attack.
