Dell announced that it reset passwords for all accounts on its online electronics store after it stopped hackers from trying to steal customer data. Citing a source familiar with the breach, Reuters reported that the company did not tell customers about the attack before it forced the password resets.
On Nov. 9, Dell revealed that it discovered and stopped hackers who had breached its network and were attempting to steal customer data. There has been no evidence that any data was taken, but investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the hackers did retrieve some data.
The company added that the hackers were looking for customer names, email addresses and scrambled passwords. Payment information and Social Security numbers were not targeted. Dell declined to say how many accounts were affected.
The news of the attempted breach comes as Dell was hit with a lawsuit earlier this month over what activist investor Carl Icahn contended was a lack of proper disclosure of financial information. Icahn argued that Dell didn’t disclose financial information pertaining to its plan to go public by buying back its tracking stock. Icahn, who owns 9.3 percent of Dell, said the proposed deal is a “conflicted transaction that benefits the controlling stockholders, at the expense of the DVMT stockholders.”
In July, Dell announced it would pay $21.7 billion in cash and stock to repurchase shares tied to its stake in VMware, enabling it to become a publicly traded company again without launching an initial public offering (IPO). Icahn and other hedge funds are against the plan, arguing that it undervalues the tracking stock by a massive amount, noted the report.
“We believe this is a threat blatantly deployed in an attempt to coerce DVMT stockholders to vote in favor of the merger, or else risk the unknown consequences of the forced IPO conversion,” Icahn said.
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