TalkTalk downplays effects of latest cyberattack that affected 'less than' 1.2M customer details

UK telecom service provider TalkTalk released some carefully worded stats on the number of user accounts that were compromised when it was hacked several days ago. The operator said "less than 1.2 million" email addresses, names and phone numbers of its customers were accessed in what it called a sustained cyberattack. TalkTalk also said less than 28,000 credit card numbers -- with part of the digits obscured, the carrier stressed -- were stolen, along with less than 21,000 bank account numbers.

While the teenagers believed to be the culprits have been arrested, this is still the third breach of TalkTalk's systems in a year, raising questions about the strength of its data security. 

See this Engadget article and this TalkTalk release.