O2 at centre of data breach

The mobile phone operation 02 is at the centre of a data breach - after it admitted losing a tape that may have contained some of its customers’ personal information.

The tape went missing in September 2011 but the potential data breach is only emerging now following consultation with the Data Protection Commissioner.

However, 02 has said that there is only a “low risk to customer data privacy” as it believes most of the information on the tape related to internal company business - that the tape could still be in one of its offices and that it's in a format that isn't easily accessible.