Eircom reconnects most Internet clients

Two-thirds of Eircom net on-line customers are expected to be reconnected to the Internet by this morning, but some will have to wait until next Monday evening, following a breach of security at the company by a computer hacker on Wednesday night.

Yesterday Eircom said it had increased the numbers of telephone operators at its Eircom net facility to 160 to deal with a massive influx of calls from customers who discovered on Thursday that their passwords, which allow access to the Internet, had been changed by the company.

The changes were necessary after it was discovered that a hacker managed to get access to the names and passwords of 30,000 Eircom net business and personal clients. The company insisted, however, that there was no evidence of any client's business being disturbed. However, there was criticism from customers and the Telecommunications Users' Group after it emerged that Eircom net was contacting only its business customers to inform them of the breach.

Clients who logged on to the service provider on Thursday morning found that their old password was no longer valid. Eircom said it was more feasible for personal customers, whom she described as the vast majority of customers, to contact the helpline, rather than the other way around. However, many customers reported that they were unable to get through to the helpline staff, a feature which the company blamed on the large number of calls.

Access to the helpline also appeared to have improved yesterday with a machine advising callers that their calls had been queued and would be answered in rotation.

An Eircom spokeswoman said each call took about four minutes to process.

With 160 operators working from early morning to midnight over the weekend, she was confident that all could be connected again by the "close of business on Monday".

The spokeswoman said that the immediate priority for the company on discovering the breach was to secure the integrity of its systems.

It was then decided that as the hacker had access to the names and secret passwords of its customer base, the next priority was to change all passwords. The priority was then to reconnect all clients, a procedure which involved the client calling the helpline and having their identification verified before the new password was issued.

By 6 p.m. yesterday evening Eircom said that it had successfully reconnected more than half its customers. A spokeswoman acknowledged that its business customers were contacted to tell them of the breach.

She said this was possible because the business customers represented a "very small portion of the overall client base". Meanwhile, the company has refused to comment on reports that the hacker's identity had been established. The spokeswoman said she could only comment that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation had been informed of the security breach.