The UK-based telecommunications company TalkTalk has seen its profits more than halve, following last year’s “significant and sustained cyberattack”.
Profits were down to $20 million compared with $46 million for the same period last year, which has largely been attributed to the financial fallout of the high-profile incident.
The cost of the cyberattack, which was originally estimated at $50.2 million, is in fact $60.7 million.
Contrary to this, TalkTalk’s chief executive was optimistic about its latest financial figures.
Dido Harding said that the company has in fact “bounced back strongly … following the cyberattack in October”.
“We recorded our lowest ever churn and stabilised the broadband base, testimony to the speed with which customer sentiment towards TalkTalk has recovered, the success of our greater focus on existing customers, and the growing benefits of our simplification programme,” Ms. Harding continued in an official press release.
“We reported full year results in line with our guidance and have declared a 15% higher dividend for the year.”
The company lost over 100,000 of its customers following the data breach, which compromised 157,000 individuals.
Information that was accessed included names, addresses, dates of birth, email addresses, telephone numbers and credit card data.
Following the attack, a number of individuals were arrested in connection with the crime, all of them under the age of 21.
Speaking to BBC News at the time, Ms. Harding described cybercrime as “the crime of our generation”.
