25,000 BBC employees see details exposed in major data breach

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Sensitive BBC data stolen in pension scheme breach

BBC logo at the entrance of BBC Broadcasting House in London
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The BBC is launching an investigation into a pension scheme data breach that exposed the details of 25,000 current and former employees.

According to the corporation, which says it has contacted those affected, the breach included the names, dates of birth, home addresses, national insurance numbers and BBC pension scheme membership status of the victims.

BBC notifies ICO

As per UK rules, the BBC notified the Information Commissioner's Office and the UK’s privacy regulator, but so far there is no reportedly evidence that the breach was part of a ransomware attack.

The email to members of the pension scheme stated that their data had been “copied from an online data storage service”, but gave no further details on the cause of the breach.

BBC Pension Trust chair Catherine Claydon’s email to the victims of the breach stated, “We take this incident extremely seriously and we want to reassure you that we and the BBC have taken immediate steps to assess and contain the incident.”

“Please be reassured that we have responded quickly and that the source of the incident has been secured. We are working at pace with specialist teams internally and externally to understand how this happened and take appropriate action. As a precaution, we have also put in place additional security measures and continue to monitor the situation,” the email concluded.

The BBC further stated that they are working with “specialist teams” to identify the cause of the breach, further stating that “additional security measures have also been put in place”.

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Benedict Collins
Benedict Collins
Senior Writer, Security

Benedict has been with TechRadar Pro for over two years, and has specialized in writing about cybersecurity, threat intelligence, and B2B security solutions. His coverage explores the critical areas of national security, including state-sponsored threat actors, APT groups, critical infrastructure, and social engineering.

Benedict holds an MA (Distinction) in Security, Intelligence, and Diplomacy from the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, providing him with a strong academic foundation for his reporting on geopolitics, threat intelligence, and cyber-warfare.

Prior to his postgraduate studies, Benedict earned a BA in Politics with Journalism, providing him with the skills to translate complex political and security issues into comprehensible copy.