Domino's blames former supplier for Australia customer data 'hacking'

Dominos Pizza said on Friday that an online rating system of a former supplier is the likely source of leaked customer personal details in Australia.

It issued a statement in response to posts by angry customers who said they received unsolicited emails -- in one case pornographic content -- at email addresses they used to buy pizza from Domino's.

"We can share that the type of information is contained in an online rating system managed by the former supplier the information that spammers have is consistent with information via our online ratings customer feedback system," Domino's said in a statement to The Australian newspaper.

"This system is now managed in house under Domino's strict security standards." Domino's didn't name the supplier, saying earlier that they had received legal advice not to.

Domino's had outsourced different aspects of its business to a range of suppliers such as Precision Tracking for GPS Tracking, Flirtey for drone deliveries, and Marathon for its Dru robotics unit, the report said.

Domino's statement implied that credit firm Equifax wasn't the source of this particular hack. A breach at Equifax this year potentially exposed about 143 million Americans' personal information, including names, addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers.

Reports indicated that UK customers' data was also hacked, up to 694,000, according to the BBC.

In its statement to The Australian, Domino's was adamant it "did not offer or sell any of its customer details to third parties".

Domino's faced the ire of angry customers who received emails from third parties who knew their pizza buying habits.

"I've been getting lots of emails from 'Sarah' and 'Jess' lately," one customer said on news website Reddit.com.

"They all know my name, email address and places close to where I live. Those places turned out to be Domino's stores I've ordered at," the posts said.

The post's author said Domino's had confirmed they had passed on details to a secondary supplier who had been hacked.

The alleged hacking didn't seem to be limited to Australia. In New Zealand there were similar stories, the report said.

A Christchurch-based customer had been in contact with others who had received similar emails. Both the New Zealand and Australian emails were authored by a "Sarah".

The pizza company said it is in contact with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner over the issue.

--IANS

soni/bg