KPN apologies for email stoppage, ups investment in technology

Telecoms giant KPN has offered ‘two million’ apologies to clients who were unable to access their email accounts on Friday and Saturday because of the cyber attack.


The apologies to the former state monopoly’s two million clients were printed in national newspapers.
Last week, KPN admitted it had been subjected to a cyber attack in January and on Friday details of some customer accounts were placed online, including passwords.
It turned out later those details did not come via the hack on KPN but from an online retailer. However, KPN suspended its email services while the leak was investigated.
‘The recent events have had a significant impact on our customers and our organization,’ CEO Eelco Blok said in a reaction. ‘It is too early to make a proper evaluation but after a turbulent weekend we have been able to establish we have done things right and wrong.’
The company has now pledged to speed up its investment in IT systems. Since the hack was made public, a number of IT experts have said KPN’s network is old-fashioned .
KPN issued a profit warning in January due to falling market share. It is also being investigated for possible price fixing on mobile telephony charges.

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