Dell admits data leak, 49m users potentially impacted

Dell users’ data including their physical addresses, names and order details has been hacked

Alexander Lewis - May 10, 2024

An undated image of Dell logo on web. — iStock

Dell, leading provider of computer hardware, software, and IT services, confirmed on Friday that they are investigating a data breach affecting a company portal containing customer purchase information. While the exact details are still under wraps, Dell assured customers it's limited to purchase-related info.

The company said that the Dell users’ data got hacked including their physical addresses, names and order details like product descriptions, service tags, warranty details and date of purchase.

However, there are no financial or sensitive data hacked. The company, through a message sent to customers, revealed that sensitive information like email addresses, payment information and phone numbers were not accessed and they were not the part of data breach.

The company added: “Dell Technologies takes the privacy and confidentiality of your information seriously”, which indicates the action-taking behaviour of Dell about this mess. Dell is investigating the data leak incident, however, it ensured to the customers that there were no significant risks for them as only limited data were accessed and not the sensitive information.

Moreover, a recent post on a hacking forum last month, which was reviewed by cybersecurity experts, suggests that the hacker intends to sell the 49 million Dell customers’ database containing confidential information of the customers including email addresses, names, employee data as well as purchase details and product information.

The researchers said: “The leak appears to be real, as we were able to identify Dell product serial numbers, Dell customer information, and some employee records in the data sample”. Cybersecurity experts warn that this could be worrying in terms of scams, phishing or identity theft accessing Dell’s customer base.

Additionally, experts told the companies that transparency should be a major thing involved in the tech world. Clear communication can lead to preventing many major harms in the industry.