CUSTOMERS' private details have potentially been compromised after a housing group suffered a data leak.

Home Group, which has properties across the county, contacted some customers to warn them that their data was affected.

Resident of Home Group housing, Melanie Winder of Workington, said she was one of the customers who received an email from the group.

It read: "We wanted to let you know we have been made aware of a potential data vulnerability on one of our technical systems and we're really sorry this happened."

A third party security consultant used by the company spotted the security flaw which may have compromised customers' names, addresses, contact details and some direct debit frequencies.

The email continued: "We are letting you know because your details were included. This information does not include any of your bank or payment information."

Miss Winder said: "It doesn't surprise me. It is supposed to be private. I just want to move now."

A spokesman for Home Group said that they acted as soon as they knew about the potential breach and had fixed the issue within 90 minutes.

The company have sent texts and emails to customers warning them of the data leak.

John Hudson, chief financial officer at Home Group, said: “At Home Group we take the safety and security of our customers extremely seriously. We were made aware of a potential data vulnerability and immediately responded to and resolved the issue. This affected a very small proportion of customers and did not include any financial data.

“We have a robust incident response protocol in place to deal with situations such as this, which meant the vulnerability was identified and fixed extremely quickly.

“We have contacted all customers affected and I want to reassure all our customers that their information is secure at Home Group and that we follow strict guidelines and protocols when it comes to data sharing and cybersecurity.”