South African retail group The Foschini Group (TFG) said it became aware of the “cybersecurity incident” on October 11, affecting its UK subsidiary TFG London, with “certain of its IT systems” impacted – specifically its Phase Eight, Hobbs and Whistles brands.
There is a branch of Hobbs at Westgate Oxford, and Whistles and Phase Eight concessions at department store John Lewis, also at Westgate.
READ MORE: Hobbs and Whistles hit by cyber attack
Justin Hampshire, CEO of TFG London, has alerted Hobbs customers that their personal data has been breached.
He wrote: “On Sunday 11th October, we identified a cybersecurity incident affecting some of our IT systems. We acted immediately to secure our systems, brought in independent cybersecurity experts, and notified the relevant government authorities.
“Unfortunately, our investigation has shown that some personal data has been accessed, and we wanted to contact you about this as soon as we could. We are contacting all of our customers as a precaution. This does not mean that your information was affected, and our investigation into exactly which information has been accessed is continuing.
“The information affected could include contact and delivery details, order information, and in some cases limited payment information, such as the last four digits of a payment card. It does not include useable payment card details. Our investigation has not identified any evidence that account login information or passwords were accessed.
“Importantly, payment processing is carried out by a third party provider and shopping on our website and in our stores remains secure.”
The email to customers added: “You do not need to take any immediate action. However, as a precaution, we recommend being alert to unexpected emails, calls or text messages.
“The information affected could potentially be used to make scam or phishing communications appear more convincing, for example by referring to information about an order you have placed.
“As a reminder, Hobbs will never ask you to provide your password or full payment card details by email, text or phone.”
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