Data Center Theft KOs Vodafone Network update from March 2011

Hundreds of thousands of UK customers of Vodafone lost service this morning after switch equipment was stolen from one of the providers' data centers. Thieves broke into the company's exchange on Basingstoke, apparently by knocking down a door. Vodafone says its is reviewing its security practices in the wake of the incident.

"We had a break-in last night at one of our technical facilities which resulted in damage done to some of our equipment," a company spokesman told the Press Association. "This means that some customers may be experiencing temporary loss of voice, sms and internet services. We are working quickly to restore these and will be back to normal as soon as we can. There has been no impact on the privacy of customers' data."

While data center thefts are unusual, there have been similar incidents in recent years. Here's a look at a few of them: