The UK's Caravan and Motorhome Club is battling a suspected cyberattack with members reporting widespread IT outages for the past five days.
UK organizations must notify the ICO within 72 hours if they suffer a breach that's likely to risk people's rights and freedoms.
The data watchdog confirmed to us today that it's investigating based on the information provided to it.
Multiple CAMC members approached The Register to complain about the outages, which according to their accounts have caused near-total digital disruption at the company that represents 1 million members.
One member said they've been unable to book a March holiday over the phone due to the disruptions with booking systems.
When asked whether the disruption was caused by a cyberattack, or if member data had been compromised, customer service staff were said to be unaware of the specifics.
Others expressed concern over the possibility that data indicating when they'd be on holiday, coupled with their home addresses, could have been leaked.
Members have also expressed annoyance with the CAMC for not communicating directly with members over email or phone.
The price of freedom turned out to be an afternoon of tech panic Sounds like the black helicopters have come for us.
Oh, just another swarm of FAA-approved Amazon delivery drones Mirror mirror on sea wall, spot those airships, make Kaiser bawl Cybercrooks book a stay in hotel email inboxes to trick staff into spilling credentials.
Reading between the lines, the fact that the CAMC specified no member data was affected, combined with the fact it reported itself to the ICO, suggests that other data could have been compromised.
While the CAMC has thus far avoided using the dreaded C word, cases involving widespread service outages that affect multiple platforms, and ones that require outside experts to restore access to systems, often eventually result in a cyberattack being blamed.
The incident could feasibly be explained by other possibilities too, although in cases where cybercriminals aren't involved, we would expect the company to quickly explain that to be the case.
Judging by social media posts made by the CAMC's subsidiaries, it appears the outage is contained to the CAMC only, as bookings are still being taken over the phone, online, and via email at multiple partnered travel businesses.
This Cyber News was published on www.theregister.com. Publication date: Thu, 25 Jan 2024 01:29:04 +0000