Nearly 40,000 customers have been affected by a security breach with Eir

A laptop was stolen from the company.

Personal details of 37,000 customers have been stolen from Irish telecom company Eir, it has been confirmed. In a statement from the company, a spokesperson said that an unencrypted laptop was stolen on August 12. Information breached included names, email addresses and Eir customer numbers of 37,000 people, but no financial details were taken. It said: "An Eir laptop containing personal data for a number of our customers was stolen from a public location. The laptop was password protected but not encrypted. While we believe that data is typically wiped by thieves in these situations in order to sell the laptop, it is possible that the data could be exposed." The telecom company states that all laptops have to be encrypted, however this particular one “had been decrypted by a faulty security update the previous working day.” According to 98fm, Tech expert Jess Kelly said Eir is now in the process of contacting all affected customers. “We don’t know the extent of the damage that could be done from something like this,” she said. “At the moment it does not look like it is a particularly malicious attack – it is just an inconvenience. “So, I don’t think passwords need to be changed or anything like that.” To find out more about the breach, visit here.