Up to 2.2 million customers may be affected.

Carphone warehouse have become the target of what they describe as a “sophisticated cyber attack”.

It has been reported that 2.4 million Carphone Warehouse customers have had their personal information such as names, addresses and bank account details stolen, with over 90,000 of them having their encrypted credit card details accessed.

This breach of data is being labelled one of the biggest hacking scandals in recent years. The mobile phone company only realised their systems had been compromised on Wednesday, two weeks after the attack took place.

It has been said that the cyber attack concerns the separately managed divisions of Carphone Warehouse which operate the websites OneStopPhoneShop.com, e2save.com and Mobiles.co.uk.

The owner of Carphone Warehouse, Dixons Carphone has said that they are very sorry for the attack and the Chief Executive, Sebastian James has stated that, “We are, of course, informing anyone that may have been affected, and have put in place additional security measures.”.

Whilst the majority of customers are unaffected by the attack, Carphone Warehouse is now beginning to contact all those that may have been affected by the major data breach. However, they have faced severe criticism from their customers as they question why they have only just begun to inform them, three days after the discovery.

The Metropolitan Police and the Information Commissioners’ Office are now beginning an inquiry into the attack. However, the mobile phone giant could potentially face hefty fines of up-to £500,000 if they are found guilty of providing insufficient data protection for its customers.

Carphone Warehouse have refused to comment on the source of attack or where in the world they attack has come from, it has also been said that they are unsure as to whether they will take the decision to compensate customers.