ByChrister Holloman,
Senior Contributor.
Klarna is addressing online reports suggesting the company may have suffered a data breach. The claims varied widely, prompting the firm to issue a detailed explanation of what it says actually happened. According to Klarna, the incident was not a breach of its systems but a technical issue linked to recycled phone numbers that affected a very small subset of users.
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In its statement, Klarna said the problem involved recycled phone numbers that were not immediately recognized by its identity systems. Mobile providers routinely reassign old numbers after customers switch carriers or obtain new ones. This practice presents an industry wide challenge for companies that use phone numbers as part of their login or verification processes. Klarna estimates that fewer than a few thousand users may have been affected and says it will notify each individual directly.
