Betfair Admits Failure To Reveal Identity Fraud

Online gambling firm Betfair has admitted it failed to inform millions of customers that their personal details had been stolen in a major cyber attack.

Over 3.1 million account names with encrypted security questions, 2.9 million usernames, and nearly 90,000 account usernames with bank account details were stolen in an attack in March 2010.

Betfair said that one of the reason is did not tell its customers was because its security measures made any data unusable for fraudsters.

It also insisted that it was able to recover all data intact.

The other reason was because it didn't want to interfere with the investigation on a similar attack made on Sony, which was being carried out by the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Sony suffered two massive attacks of identity theft from its Playstation Network just before the revelation about Betfair, which saw 100 million of its users have their personal details stolen.

Betfair said it had contacted the Australian Federal Police and German authorities over the attack.

A report commissioned into the theft was published on September 27 in 2010, six days after Betfair announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange.

Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties and privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said:

"This is nothing short of a scandal; for the personal details of millions of customers to be lost is one thing - but to then fail to inform those affected is outrageous.

"Whoever made the decision to sacrifice the financial security of millions of people for the sake of Betfair's reputation should resign immediately."

Chairman Edward Wray has indicated he will stand down and chief executive David Yu and has said he will not renew his contract when it expires in October 2012.

A Betfair spokesman said that a review of security has been concluded since the attack and Betfair's systems have been strengthened for the protection of customer details.

He said: "We have subsequently implemented all of the recommendations from the independent reports we commissioned and have done everything we can to minimise the risk of this happening again."