Epsilon email heist was the work of sophisticated cyber thieves

AN ATTACK that pinched a massive haul of names and email addresses from the marketing firm Epsilon was the work of "sophisticated cyber thieves", according to the company.

In a statement, Epsilon's parent company Alliance Data Systems revealed it is working with US federal authorities and outside forensics experts. In addition to the investigation, the firm has launched a review to see if additional security needs to be put in place.

"Once detected, we took immediate action to implement additional safeguards and launched a full investigation. We will leave no stone unturned and are dealing with this malicious act by highly sophisticated cyber thieves with the greatest sense of urgency," said Alliance Data CEO Ed Heffeman

Memory technology firm Crucial is one of the latest companies to reveal it's on the list of the 50 or more customers affected by the theft, which includes Marks and Spencer, Verizon, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Capital One.

Alliance Data acknowledged that while the threat to customers is minimal as just names and email addresses were lost, its reputation as well as Epsilon's have been damaged.

The reason that this made headlines was down to the big companies affected, and Epsilon will need to work hard to regain the trust of its clients and their customers. µ