Data processing error: Your questions

In this section

You are seeing this page because we contacted you directly about an error in our data handling.

We have compiled some information that we anticipate you will want to know.  If you have questions that are not answered on this page, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us at membersupport@eastofengland.coop and we will endeavour to help resolve any questions or concerns you may have.

  • What happened?

    During a recent routine update of our communication systems, an error occurred meaning some basic contact data was mismatched. This impacted the customer email sent on Friday 24th July. 

    It is possible, that having clicked a series of links starting with ‘update your preferences’, a member may have seen some or all of the basic contact information of another member, including name, postal address, date of birth, telephone number. This basic contact information was not contained within the body of the e-mail.  

  • What data may have been accessed?

    It is possible, that having clicked a series of links, a member could have viewed some or all of another member's name, address, phone number and date of birth.

  • How many people accessed my information

    It is probable that no one has seen your personal information. However, if the member mismatched to your record clicked the 'update your preferences' link, they will have been able to see basic contact information.  Those details did not appear in the body of the email and they would have been accessible only to one other member.

    Despite lengthy investigation by ourselves and our email service provider, we are unable to confirm which members clicked the 'update your preferences' link. 

    Therefore, whilst we have identified the member who could have seen your details, we are unable to conclusively say whether they did access them. 

    Although we believe the possibility of your details having been seen are very low, we felt it appropriate to notify you.

  • Was this a cyber attack?

    No.

    There has been no security breach and customer data has not been stolen. This issue was the result of human error whilst updating our email system. No financial or payment data was involved in this incident.

  • What steps are you taking to ensure this doesn’t happen again?

    We have made changes to our internal process when updating our email system to reduce the risk of human error. We have also voluntarily reported this issue to the Information Commissioners Office, despite an assessment that this incident is low risk. We are reviewing our response with the Direct Marketing Association, to ensure we act in accordance with best practice.

  • Is my member share account secure?

    Yes.

    There is no further action you need to take.  Your details have been corrected.  You can use your membership card as normal.

    The error in data processing does not affect your share account.  This processing error will not enable someone to fraudulently access your share account.