ASOS investigating ‘unauthorised activity’ after Irish customers receive hacking notification

The company further said that customer trust is "incredibly important" and will maintain open lines of communication on any further updates.

Online clothing retailer ASOS has confirmed that it is investigating “unauthorised activity” involving a third-party platform after customers were notified on Tuesday that the company had been hacked.

Thousands of ASOS customers across Ireland were sent a mobile app notification on Tuesday saying that the company had experienced a hacking incident.

The message read: “Dear ASOS DPO and IT, we have full compromised the Snowflake instance. Engage with us, or we will leak it.”

The notification also included a link to a Telegram account.

The company has since said that names and contact details “may have been accessed” as a result of the hacking, but believes no card details or other payment information was taken.

“We are investigating unauthorised activity involving third-party platforms that we use to communicate with customers,” ASOS said.

“Basic personal information, including name and contact details, may have been accessed.

“We do not believe that payment-card information or account passwords were impacted.

“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.” 

The company further said that customer trust is “incredibly important” and that it would maintain open lines of communication on any further updates.

Warning over phishing attempts

Cyber security specialist at ESET Ireland, George Foley, said Irish customers should expect further phishing and scam attempts in the coming weeks.

“If you received the push notification, don't engage with the Telegram channel it pointed to,” said Mr Foley.

“ASOS says passwords were not affected, but if you use the same password anywhere else, now is a good time to change it.

“Over the coming weeks, Irish ASOS customers should expect emails and texts that look like they come from ASOS, offering refunds, flagging a delivery problem, or asking them to verify their account.

“Treat every one of them with suspicion,” he added.

“Don't click links in unexpected messages. Open the ASOS app or website directly instead.”