Afrihost client data leaked: company apologises and explains

HavocXphere said:
Could have been worse I guess. Still...there are no second chances in this game - confidence once damaged can never be made truly whole again.

I'm also a bit alarmed at me hearing this from mybb instead of AH.

That being said I am impressed that AH is attempting to analyze customer geographic distributions.


Steam has an option to disable storing of credit card info. (AH I hope your taking notes)
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We don't store credit card info - that is stored offline by our carrier so there would never be a danger of that data being compromised. We were well aware of what information was being used, and we would have definitely not used payment or identity information (like they do on some public records) as firstly it would yield no value for GIS and secondly because we were extremely cautious (even though we still ended up on the wrong side of this)

It could have been worse - agreed. But we're glad that it wasn't and we fully believe that once explained and any risks have been mitigated, we will win back the trust of all our clients :)
 
AfriMan said:
We do acknowledge that this is still poor form on our part and we've let our clients down. While the net is rife with private info, we would have preferred not to have ever been the cause of this.

However we do feel that the information is very unlikely to be used in any meaningful way and that our clients privacy is still protected :(
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If popi were active, you'd likely be in contravention of the act, so not good enough to give excuses about how meaningful the info is or isn't. at the very least, someone knows I have something worth stealing in my household.

Be that as it may, Afrihost is off the hook this time.

D
 
AfriMan said:
Haha - I feel like I'm walking into a trap. I commit to nothing ;)
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:D
While I admit I'm mildly peeved, I realise it was an honest (although unwanted) mistake.
Lord Nikon6 said:
No shaping for a month or 2....Follow through and you will have people actually wanting to be on that list.
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I'm on a capped account. So none of that shaping nonsense :p
 
froot said:
:D
While I admit I'm mildly peeved, I realise it was an honest (although unwanted) mistake.


I'm on a capped account. So none of that shaping nonsense :p
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lol, okay, well they will have to tailor it, free unshaped uncapped account for you then. But only for the people on the list, those not on the list :p
 
AfriMan said:
We do acknowledge that this is still poor form on our part and we've let our clients down. While the net is rife with private info, we would have preferred not to have ever been the cause of this.

However we do feel that the information is very unlikely to be used in any meaningful way and that our clients privacy is still protected :(
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if anyone owns a domain unless you add privacy(most don't) much more info is accessible online from people.. Would worry about it.

Go onto anyone FB profile and you have 1000% more info about the person already.
 
koeksGHT said:
if anyone owns a domain unless you add privacy(most don't) much more info is accessible online from people.. Would worry about it.

Go onto anyone FB profile and you have 1000% more info about the person already.
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You do know that technically the "privacy company" owns your domain and that that practice is being done away with AFAIK.
 
damian24 said:
If popi were active, you'd likely be in contravention of the act, so not good enough to give excuses about how meaningful the info is or isn't. at the very least, someone knows I have something worth stealing in my household.

Be that as it may, Afrihost is off the hook this time.

D
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We obviously take POPI and the provisions thereof very seriously. We're reviewing the Act with our legal experts to make sure we are completely in compliance by the deadline.

Again though, this was purely intended to be internal management GIS information, it was never intended to be public at any stage.
 
koeksGHT said:
if anyone owns a domain unless you add privacy(most don't) much more info is accessible online from people.. Would worry about it.

Go onto anyone FB profile and you have 1000% more info about the person already.
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It depends on how you register the domain but yeah sometimes you can get a lot of info - I've tracked down a few people through this. When you got through a registrar like us, you can provide less personal info though :)
 
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being an extremely sensitive loss of data control this is on the 1 side of things. It isn't a massive incident and I for one still trust Afrihost with critical info. Say what you want, using the Google tools available for business is critical nowadays. I am personally impressed that they were using it! I am personally a big fan of Google for business. It enhances client interactivity and what Afrihost were doing was trying to enhance their customers' experience. :)
 
Eish Wena... keep me safe else i will tell my good mate Julius M to visit you...
 
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