European Retail Firms Confirm Cyber Incidents Amid Wider Attacks

Multiple European retail firms have recently confirmed cyber incidents leading to operational disruptions, with investigations underway at others, highlighting a period of heightened cyber activity across the sector.

Netherlands-based multinational retail company Ahold Delhaize confirmed on 12 October that it was experiencing “a security issue” within its networks. The company took “some systems offline” to protect them. The disruption affected three of the group’s brands: supermarket chain Albert Heijn, operating in the Netherlands and Belgium; Dutch drugstore chain Etos; and Dutch liquor store chain Gall & Gall.

Separately, South African retail group The Foschini Group (TFG), owner of high-street fashion brands Hobbs and Whistles, confirmed it was investigating a “cyber incident.” TFG became aware of the incident on 11 October, affecting its UK subsidiary, TFG London, with “certain IT systems” impacted. Affected brands include Phase Eight, Hobbs, and Whistles. TFG stated there was “no reason to believe that payment information is at risk” at this stage and reported the incident to relevant UK authorities.

Commenting on the TFG incident, Muhammad Yahya Patel, vCISO and cybersecurity advisor for EMEA at Huntress, noted that the unaffected TFG high street brands (Inside Story, White Stuff) and TFG’s wider Africa and Australia operations suggested “some degree of system separation was in place.” Patel added, “That separation, which limited the blast radius, is worth noting as a positive.”

Additionally, Swedish retailer H&M is examining information circulating online about a potential incident. However, H&M stated it had found no indication that its data environment had been compromised.

These incidents follow days after UK fashion retailer ASOS confirmed an unauthorised intrusion into third-party platforms it uses for customer communication. ASOS’s latest update on 13 October confirmed that personal information, including names, contact details, and some non-personal account-related information, was accessed. The company reiterated that no payment-card information or account passwords were impacted.

The alerts also come as French supermarket chains grapple with a large-scale cyber-attack between 11 and 12 October. Attackers tampered with refrigeration controlling systems, leading to significant food product loss and financial damages estimated in the hundreds of thousands of euros.

There is currently no indication that these various incidents are related to each other.