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The TV Licensing body has issued a warning to customers over fears their details may have been left at risk in a security glitch.

In a statement to the public, it said it's been "alerted to an issue" regarding its website security - and fears some details relating to customers may have been exposed.

The organisation said there's no evidence to suggest the website has been subject to an attack or that their security has been compromised - however said it's writing to customers affected to alert them of the risk.

The error affects the period from 29 August to around 3.20pm on 5 September 2018 – when some transactions carried out on the website were not as secure as they should have been.

This issue does not affect debit and credit card details but it may have affected customers' personal details such as their name, address and email or, if customers entered bank details, their sort code and account number.

In some cases, this information was not encrypted when it was transmitted from the customer’s computer.

At the time, TV Licensing said it took the site offline to rectify the issue - and has issued an apology to customers, adding that the risk of damage is 'low'.

Who is affected?

(Image: PA Archive)

TV Licensing says you may be at risk if you visited the website between 29 August and 3.20pm on 5 September 2018 and entered sensitive data online.

If you gave out personal details, including bank card numbers, over the phone, you're not affected.

The body said it's currently contacting all customers urgently who it believes may be affected.

What personal data of mine could be at risk?

Between 29 August and 5 September, customer transactions using debit and credit cards were still encrypted.

However, if the HTTP version of a web page was being used, personal data such as customers’ names, addresses, bank details (sort code and account number) – for example, to set up or amend a direct debit - would not have been encrypted.

What you can do to protect yourself

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As a precaution, TV Licensing suggests that you check your bank statements now to ensure there are no unauthorised transactions - and make sure your direct debits haven't been tampered with.

If you detect any suspicious activity on your account, you should contact your bank or building society urgently. If you have any further questions, you should contact TV Licensing on 0300 790 6024.

A spokesman for TV Licensing told The Mirror: “While there is no evidence that anyone’s data has been compromised, for a limited period certain transactions carried out on our website were not as secure as they should have been. This has now been fixed.

"While the risk of anyone having seen any of this data is low, because we take data security seriously we’ve written to people who may have sent their bank details to our website during this period to alert them and advise them to speak to their bank if they see any unusual activity. The issue did not affect credit or debit card details which were encrypted throughout.

"We’re really sorry this happened but want to reassure customers that the risk is low and we’ve taken action to ensure it doesn't happen again. There is no evidence of any attack and we’ve found no evidence of any unauthorised access to information.

“We’ve published further information on our website which can be found at www.tvlicensing.co.uk/secure"