Amazon admits to data breach that spilt customer names and email addresses

Company blames 'technical error' for the data spillage

Online commerce behemoth Amazon appears to have suffered a data breach - although it's unclear whether the company has informed the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) about the data leakage.

The spillage wasn't publicly announced, but revealed to affected customers in an email to customers including, among others, security guru Graham Cluley.

In it, it warned that the company "inadvertently disclosed your name and email address due to a technical error".

It continued: "This is not a result of anything you have done, and there is no need for you to change your password or take any other action," the email concludes.

Cluley complained that the email lacked detail about how the "technical error" had occurred, while many customers had suspected that the email was one of the many Amazon-related scam emails that clog spam filters worldwide.

This was largely due to the inclusion of an HTTP, rather than HTTPS link at the bottom. However, the company has since publicly admitted the breach. In a statement to Computing, it claimed: "We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted."

However, the company is remaining tight-lipped on crucial details, such as the cause of the breach and how many customers have been affected.