The Sun newspaper, the biggest selling daily in the UK, has confirmed that it suffered a cyber attack, in which the personal details of readers were compromised.

The newspaper sent out e-mails to its readers, warning them that hackers accessed their personal information, including addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth.

Hackers, who launched the attack on July 19, even stole and posted applications for the Miss Scotland contest.

However, the daily assured that hackers could not get access to financial or password information. It also said that police and the Information Commissioner had been informed about the hack.

Informing readers about the hack, a spokesperson for the Sun said, "We take customer data extremely seriously and are working with the relevant authorities to resolve this matter. We are directly contacting any customer affected by this."

The spokesperson apologized, admitting that the security had not been tight enough to avoid the breach.

The hacking attack on the Sun followed the hacking of celebrities, politicians, war widows etc. by sister newspaper the News of the World.