Asos investigating if client data base is compromised: Report

Fashion giant Asos is investigating a potential hack of its app, reported The Guardian.com, after users were sent a notification with the claim that the data on the platform had been ‘fully compromised’.

Besides an upset clientele, the brand also saw a swift dip in its stocks on the London Stock Exchange; there was a 14 per cent plunge after a notification claiming ‘Asos hacked’ popped up on users’ screens with a link to a Telegram account run by cyber gang Xuanye.

The website and app are at the time of writing operational, and Asos is reportedly investigation if its platforms have been hacked.

The message that started it all said: “Dear Asos DPO [data protection officer] and IT, we have fully compromised the Snowflake instance.”

Snowflake is a cloud platform that stores and processes data that includes financial transactions and demographic information. It also enables push notifications to those signed up. Dray Agha, the senior manager of security operations at Huntress, an online security firm, was quoted as saying by The Guardian: “Snowflake is a massive cloud database where retailers typically store sensitive customer information – it is a real worry if cyber criminals have indeed accessed it as they claim. The push notification suggests attackers have breached the systems controlling the Asos mobile app also..”