The UK Consumers’ Association (CA) has advised thousands of
people to cancel their credit cards after their personal details
were displayed on its web site by accident. More than 2,700 people
are thought to have been affected, according to the BBC.
Those who paid on-line for Which? TaxCalc software were
approached on Friday by the CA. The TaxCalc.com site, which was
designed to help self-employed people to complete self-assessment
tax forms, has been shut down until the fault can be fully
traced.
Kim Lavely, deputy director of the Consumers' Association, said
in a statement on the Which? Online web site:
"This is a serious flaw in the security of
the TaxCalc site and we are very concerned about it. As soon as we
were alerted to the flaw, we removed all personal and financial
details from the TaxCalc site. We have already commissioned an
independent security expert to conduct a thorough audit of the
security of this site. The TaxCalc site will remain shut until this
problem has been resolved. We are contacting all customers who have
bought TaxCalc from this website, informing them that their
personal and financial details have been compromised. We will be
advising them to contact their credit card issuers to cancel their
cards."
The group, which campaigns for better security in on-line
transactions, has blamed a fault in its system for the accident. It
stressed that users of other Which? Online services were not
affected.
