Telecommunications company Eir had to replace almost 20,000 customer modems following an investigation by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC).

Last year, the company contacted about 130,000 of its broadband customers as a result of security concerns that the customers routers were vulnerable to infection by a virus that could ultimately lead to them being hacked. At that time, the company said nearly 2,000 customer routers had been breached.

Following an investigation, the company had to replace almost 20,000 modems for customers with basic broadband packages without access to fibre services.

Additionally, Eir agreed to put in place measures surrounding the life cycle of modems supplied to customers, specifically to ensure that modem devices provided appropriate security during their lifetime.

At the time of the breach, Eir said it immediately took action to mitigate the risk to customers and informed the DPC, Department of Communications, ComReg and An Garda Síochána.

The replacement of modems came due to data protection law requiring manufacturers and suppliers of devices to put in place appropriate technical security measures to prevent unauthorised and illegal access to data.