Just when you thought it was safe to go back onto the internet, along comes another data breach. This time it’s South African pharmacy group Dis-Chem. The group has posted a notice detailing what it currently knows about a recent hack.
To start with, more than 3.6 million customers have been affected. 3,687,881, to be precise. And any time there’s a number this accurate, things are either really confirmed, or really made up. In this case, it’s the former. Pity, that.
Dis-Chem database dumped
The good news is that the information scooped up by whoever was wandering around in Dis-Chem’s databases isn’t immediately threatening. The 3.6 million+ customers affected had their names and surnames, phone numbers, and email addresses taken.
This isn’t an immediate threat, but the pharmacy group explains that this info can be put to several uses. It could “…be used by the unauthorised party to commit further criminal activities, such as phishing attacks, emails compromises, social engineering and/or impersonation attempts”. In other words, someone might contact you pretending to be familiar with you in the hopes of extracting more data.
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Dis-Chem also notes that the stolen data could be combined with other stolen data. In that case, it may become more threatening than it currently is. But that’s not entirely Dis-Chem’s fault.
At the moment, the pharmacy group isn’t aware of any personal info being misused. It’s also, according to its notice, actively monitoring when or if the stolen data turns up in the places it is generally sold. An unnamed third party is assisting with the investigation into what caused the 28 April breach. In the meantime, the group offers a few tips for users who might be affected, but they boil down to advice that you’re probably already familiar with.