Hackers sent a threat to Asos that was heard loud and clear — by both its users and investors.
Shares of Asos closed down 10.6 percent to 449 pence on Tuesday as stockholders tried to gauge the fall out of an unusual and highly visible security breach.
Earlier in the day, shoppers who use the company’s app started posting screenshots of a push alert that appeared to be an attempt at blackmailing the retailer.
“Dear DPO and IT, we have fully compromised the Snowflake instance. Engage with us, or we will leak it,” the alert read, calling out the company’s data protection officer and tech specialists and apparently referring to Snowflake, the cloud-based data storage company. You May Also Like
The company confirmed the “unauthorized customer notification.”
“We are investigating unauthorized activity involving third-party platforms that we use to communicate with customers,” Asos said. “We took immediate action to restrict access to the notification platforms and are working with our internal and external specialist advisers, as well as all relevant authorities.”
While customers’ personal information, like name and details, might have been accessed, the firm said that it does not believe that payment-card information or passwords were compromised.
“Our website and app are operating as normal, with no current disruption to any aspects of our operations,” Asos said. “Customer trust is incredibly important to us, and if the situation changes an update will be provided as appropriate.”
Asos also affirmed that it has “cyber security insurance with a large global provider, including business continuity insurance. It is too early to quantify any potential impact on trading.”
Threats against online retailers are nothing new, but they usually happen away from the consumer eye. It is very unusual for app users to have the push-alert function co-opted on their phones, putting average consumers in the middle of the crossfire.
Although many of the details are still not known, the hack looks like something of a parable for fashion in the digital age, especially with AI supercharging the ability to break into systems that were seen as secure.
Even if the hackers have nothing else but the ability to trigger a push alert to Asos app users, that in itself is the ability to disrupt the all-important relationship with the shopper.
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