A photo of the exterior of Interxion's Dublin data center, where Blacknight houses its hosting environment
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Irish-based European web hosting provider Blacknight announced on Wednesday that 40,000 of its customers may have been affected in a security breach on Tuesday.
In a press release, Blacknight says no financial data was exposed in Tuesday’s breach, but client contact details including email addresses and telephone numbers were leaked. Overall, Blacknight calls the damage minimal, although in an email to the WHIR, managing director Michele Neylon would not specify how many customers it has in total, or what percentage of total customers 40,000 represents.
Blacknight emailed its customers prior to issuing a press release, according to a post Thursday on the company’s blog. It has an active presence on its blog, and usually updates its customers on news pertaining to security and otherwise there. However, Neylon said Blacknight “felt it prudent to take a slightly different route” by emailing its clients directly before publishing anything anywhere else.
Web hosts seem to agree that more transparency with security incidents create less headaches with customer service. Blacknight did not wait around to issue a release on the incident; the turnaround time of a day between the breach and the release of the statement shows immediate interaction with its customers and the public to minimize damage.
The breach was caused externally, Blacknight says, and it is further investigating the issue with the Data Protection Commissioner and the Irish Reporting and Information Security Service.
Blacknight will also work with Gardai, the police force in Ireland, to investigate the incident.
“We take our responsibilities to our customers very seriously and have already been in touch with the Data Protection Commissioner and have informed them of the breach,” Neylon said in a statement. “Blacknight is a secure company, however data breaches are a reality that almost every online company must face. We are taking this opportunity to increase our security even further and apologize to our customers for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Blacknight is urging users to update passwords used for their Blacknight account and be aware of any unusual online account activity.
In November 2011, Blacknight launched its cloud hosting service.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
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