Dell warns customers about data breach in which names and hardware data have been stolen

Dell has warned customers about a data breach. The company says an incident occurred in a company portal. Names, home addresses and order information may have been stolen.

Dell writes in an email, which many tweakers have also received, that it is 'investigating an incident' in an unnamed portal on the website. It “contains a database of limited types of customer information related to purchases from Dell.” The company says that for now it only appears that names and physical addresses were taken, along with data about purchases such as what hardware customers purchased. This also includes information such as purchase dates and warranty certificates. Financial information such as bank account numbers or credit card details would not have been taken, Dell says. Nor is any contact information stolen, such as email addresses or telephone numbers.

It is not known exactly what happened and to which incident Dell is referring. Previously, a database containing data from 49 million Dell customers appeared on a hacker forum, although it has not yet been confirmed whether that data is related to this incident. In that data, a hacker says that purchase data from between 2017 and 2024 was stolen from mainly American, Chinese, Indian and Australian users. The majority of those customers would be schools or companies. That's not surprising, because that type of customer is more likely to purchase hardware directly through Dell's own offering, including a service program.