H&M investigates claims of potential cyberattack

H&M Group is investigating claims that it was targeted by the cybercriminal group ShinyHunters, following a cyberattack on fellow fashion retailer ASOS last week.

The Swedish fashion group, which owns H&M, Cos, Arket and Monki, said it was aware of online claims concerning a potential cybersecurity incident involving a limited amount of its data.

“We are currently investigating these claims to assess their validity and so far we have no indication that our data environment has been compromised,” an H&M Group spokeswoman told The Times.

The company added that it takes potential threats to its systems and data seriously, but was unable to provide further details while its investigation continues.

ShinyHunters is a financially motivated cybercriminal group associated with social engineering and phishing attacks, as well as exploiting vulnerabilities in cloud services. The group has previously targeted major companies including Google, Microsoft and Ticketmaster.

The claims come after ASOS confirmed on 6 October that it was investigating unauthorised activity involving third-party platforms used to communicate with customers. The online retailer said customers’ names, details and certain account information may have been accessed, but that payment card details and account passwords were not believed to have been compromised.

ASOS said its website and app continued to operate normally and that it had taken immediate action to restrict access to the affected notification platforms.

The latest claims have also raised questions the potential risks posed by compromised employee credentials and third-party services, which can provide attackers with access to customer data without disrupting a retailer’s core operations.

H&M, which operates thousands of stores across more than 80 markets, has not confirmed a breach. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office had not received a report relating to the alleged incident as of Monday lunchtime, according to The Times.

TheIndustry.fashion reached out to H&M Group for .