The Stage

National Theatre alerts 17,500 customers that online personal details may have been hacked

Published Wednesday 3 March 2010 at 10:55 by Natalie Woolman

Around 17,500 people listed in the National Theatre’s customer database may have had their details accessed by a hacker, in a security breach that took place on February 20.

The affected individuals may have had their account details accessed, including name, email and password. However, the theatre encrypts payment information, so it is understood that no financial material was viewed.

In an email to the affected customers, the National Theatre said: “We were notified over the weekend of a security incident that took place on Saturday, February 20, which may have led to your NT website account (email, password, name and contact information only) being accessed by an unauthorised user.

“Your payment information is safely encrypted, so no financial or booking details have been viewed.”

The email also requests customers change their NT website password and suggests that “it would be prudent to do so on other sites where you use the same password”.

The full NT database contains details of more than 900,000 people, so the percentage of people affected is relatively small. All those affected have been emailed.

A National Theatre spokesman said: “Fortunately, the security measures we have in place mean that we have only had to ask our affected customers to change their password.

“But, of course, we take this matter seriously, which is why we’ve contacted everyone who may have been affected.”

The NT has reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office.