Millions of survey takers have been affected by the Nebu data breach after the news broke out earlier this week. Since the Dutch Railways (NS) first reported the breach affecting more than 700,000 of its customers, the scale of the incident has grown. It’s now estimated that at least 2 million people in the Netherlands have been affected.
Although the exact cause of the Nebu data breach is yet to be determined, it has been confirmed that at least 25 Dutch companies have been affected, including several prominent brands such as:
- Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)
- Dutch telecom provider VodafoneZiggo
- ArboNed
- Heineken
- International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR)
- The Dutch Golf Federation
- CZ (a health insurance provider)
- Trevvel
- Dutch Rental Commission (Huurcommissie)
Many of the affected companies have used Nebu through the leading Dutch market research provider Blauw Research, one of Nebu’s key clients going back many years.
The Dutch Data Protection Authority has launched an investigation into the incident, but at present, little is known about the cause and consequences of the data breach at Nebu. Some of the research agencies affected by the breach have filed summary proceedings against Nebu, calling on the company to provide more information about the leak.
What should you do if affected by the Nebu data breach?
If your data was compromised, you will be notified via email by the relevant company. While the situation is certainly concerning, RTL Nieuws suggests that there’s little cause for alarm as “cybercriminals can’t do much with just an email address and phone number.” As the breach didn’t affect account login details, those affected are not immediately required to take any action, such as changing their passwords.
The situation highlights the risk of taking online market research surveys and the need for high cybersecurity measures in the industry.
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