This article is more than 1 year old
Morrisons supermarket hit by MASSIVE staff payroll data robbery
Details of 100,000 staffers leaked online, sent to local paper
Morrisons' checkout and shelf-stacking staff across the UK will be anxiously worried about their bank accounts this morning, after the supermaket admitted that thieves had spaffed employee payroll details online.
The grocer said on its Facebook page that it had notified all its workers that their personal information had been stolen and then uploaded onto a website.
It said:
As soon as we became aware of this last night we took immediate steps to ensure the data was removed from the website. It was closed down within hours of us being notified.
- This was an illegal theft of data. - It can no longer be accessed on the website. - We are liaising with the police and highest level of cyber crime authorities.
The information included names, addresses and bank account details of colleagues. This affects colleagues from all levels of the organisation.
The company is scrambling to secure its financial information, which could prove incredibly difficult given the seriousness of the data theft.
Morrisons, which has around 500 stores throughout Blighty, finally began online food deliveries only recently. It said it was working with credit report outfit Experian and the country's biggest banks to provide support to its thousands of employees.
"We are very sorry that this has happened. We will ensure that no colleague will be left financially disadvantaged as a result of this theft," it said.
Reuters reports that the leak involves the details of around 100,000 staff.
A helpline and email address has been set up by Morrisons for concerned staffers to use. Some have already taken to Twitter to express their despair about the stolen data.
It's unclear if Morrisons has notified the Information Commissioner's Office about the theft. We've asked the watchdog and will update the story if it responds to our request for comment. ®