Safeway investigates hacker attack

UK supermarket Safeway has been hit by a hacker who sent hoax emails to customers on the store's confidential database.

Three thousand customers complained over the weekend about a hoax email which urged shoppers to go elsewhere if they were not happy with Safeway's 25 per cent price increase. The email was headed with the company's email address.

Safeway's database has details of 25,000 customers who regularly receive information via email. The company's spokeswoman claimed that the hackers did not get hold of any personal or credit card details. The company said they are investigating the attack.

Safeway's security leak is just one of the many recent security fiascos to hit British banks and retailers.

UK high street bank Barclays has been involved in three security lapses in the space of a fortnight. Just last month, silicon.com exposed UK utility Powergen's massive security breach which left debit card details of thousands of customers open to a potential multimillion pounds of fraud.