Cyber security appears to be the watchword(s) this week as British Gas, owned by utility giant Centrica (LON:CNA), became the latest UK company to announce a data breach.
The firm sent an e-mail today to 2,200 of its customers to warn them that email addresses and account passwords has been posted online.
Affected accounts have been disabled but British Gas was quick to reassure this was not a cyber attack.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday evening this week, ubiquitous clothes and food retailer Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) temporarily suspended its website after customers could see each others' details when logged into their accounts.
The retailer said it was an internal error and no financial data had been extracted.
It all comes after telecoms group TalkTalk (LON:TALK) announced a beach last week, which saw shares in the firm crumble.
A 15-year-old boy who lives with his mum in Northern Ireland believed to be responsible was arrested. Allegedly, he put information – including bank details – of up to 4mln households at risk.
The TalkTalk incident caused a massive furore and lead to the firm working with leading cyber-crime specialists and the police to establish exactly what happened.
It was reported that some experts believed it to be the work of Islamic militants.
TalkTalk shares are down 5.91% to 237.10p today. On October 12, they stood at 314.6p. Centrica is down 0.96% and Marks lost 0.29%.