Vodafone Germany said Thursday a hacker had stolen the personal data of two million customers. The data included names, addresses, dates of birth, and account numbers but not sensitive any information such as credit card numbers, passwords or PIN numbers. "This attack could only be carried out with high criminal intent and insider knowledge and was launched deep inside the IT infrastructure of the company," Vodafone Deutschland said. "Vodafone deeply regrets the incident and apologises to all those affected," the company added.

Vodafone says it had discovered the attack, stopped it and with the help of German authorities identified the suspect and searched his/her home.

The company said only customers within Germany had been affected and would be contacted by mail.