Dell discloses data breach of customers’ physical addresses

Technology giant Dell notified customers on Thursday that it experienced a data breach involving customers’ names and physical addresses. In an email seen by TechCrunch and shared by several people on social media, the computer maker wrote that it was investigating “an incident involving a Dell portal, which contains a database with limited types of […]
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Technology giant Dell notified customers on Thursday that it experienced a data breach involving customers’ names and physical addresses.

In an email seen by TechCrunch and shared by several people on social media, the computer maker wrote that it was investigating “an incident involving a Dell portal, which contains a database with limited types of customer information related to purchases from Dell.”

Dell wrote that the information accessed in the breach included customer names, physical addresses and “Dell hardware and order information, including service tag, item description, date of order and related warranty information.” Dell did not say if the incident was caused by malicious outsiders or inadvertent error.

The breached data did not include email addresses, telephone numbers, financial or payment information, or “any highly sensitive customer information,” according to the company. 

The company downplayed the impact of the breach in the message.

“We believe there is not a significant risk to our customers given the type of information involved,” Dell wrote in the email.

When TechCrunch reached out to Dell for comment, asking specific questions such as how many customers were impacted, how the breach occurred and why the company considers that a breach of physical addresses does not pose “a significant risk” to customers, the company responded with a boilerplate version of the email it sent to affected customers. 

A Dell spokesperson, who declined to provide their name, later added: “We are not disclosing this specific information from our ongoing investigation.” Dell did not provide a reason.

Dell spokesperson Lon Levitan did not respond to a further follow-up email from TechCrunch.