Drivers warned about identity theft after car dealers giant Arnold Clark is hit by cyber attack

Tens of thousands of motorists could be at risk of identity theft and online fraud after one of Britain’s biggest car dealers was hit by a major cyber attack.

Arnold Clark customers have had information including addresses, passports and national insurance numbers leaked on the dark web by criminal gang Play. 

The hackers have already posted one 15-gigabyte data dump and threaten to upload 467 gigabytes more unless Arnold Clark pays a multi-million pound ransom in cryptocurrency.

The Mail on Sunday has seen some of the data, which includes copies of bank statements and car registration numbers.

Arnold Clark customers could be at risk of identity theft and online fraud after one of Britain’s biggest car dealers was hit by a major cyber attack

Play came to prominence last year after a series of government websites in Latin America was hacked.

Arnold Clark says customers affected will be alerted once it has ‘a full picture’ of the data stolen.

Companies caught up in data breaches can be hit with large fines by the Information Commissioner’s Office. It fined British Airways was a record £20m after the personal data of more than 400,000 customers and staff was stolen in 2020. 

Marriott International hotels was also fined £18.4m the same year after hackers stole millions of guest records.

A spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s Office said: ‘Arnold Clark made us aware of an incident and we are making enquiries.’