Talk about a bad deal. An e-mail from LivingSocial CEO Tim O'Shaughnessy on Saturday advised customers that a cyber attack on the company's computer systems led to unauthorized access to some customer data, including names, e-mail addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords.
Some 50 million customers in North America, Latin America, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Southern Europe were affected by the attack.
Not affected, according to Mr. O'Shaughnessy, was the database storing credit card information and Facebook information for those who connect to LivingSocial through the social media site.
"The security of your information is our priority," he wrote. "We always strive to ensure the security of our customer information, and we are redoubling efforts to prevent any issues in the future."
Not all were assuaged by the LivingSocial CEO's assurances.
"In light of recent successful widespread attacks against major social networking sites, it's obvious that these providers are simply not doing enough to protect their customers' information," George Tubin, senior security strategist at Trusteer, told Reuters.
LivingSocial, the number two daily deal site to Groupon, is partly owned by Amazon.com. The e-tailer, which has a 29 percent share in LivingSocial, invested $56 million in the company in the first quarter.