Hobbs and Whistles owner apologises to shoppers after being hit by cyber attack

Hobbs and Whistles owner was targeted by cyber criminals (Picture: Getty Images)

The owner of major UK fashion brands was targeted in a cyber attack, the second within a week to rock the industry.

South African retail group The Foschini Group (TFG), the owner of Hobbs, Whistles and Phase Eight, is the latest brand to be affected by a cyber incident.

The company revealed it became aware of the incident on Sunday, affecting its UK arm, TFG London.

It has hampered ‘certain of its IT systems,’ specifically Phase Eight, Hobbs and Whistles.

However, there is ‘no reason to believe that payment information is at risk,’ the firm insisted.

Hobbs and sister brands Whistles and Phase Eight have all been affected. (Photo by Mike Kemp/In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)

Orders placed before Sunday are set to be processed as normal, while online purchases made after Sunday could face some delays.

Meanwhile, UK high street brands Inside Story and White Stuff, and TFG Africa and TFG Australia are not affected

UK authorities have been alerted, and cyber security experts have been called in to investigate, the retail giant said.

The company said: ‘We are actively investigating and working with external cyber security specialists.

‘Stores are open as normal but some of our brand’s website capabilities may not be available as the investigation continues.

‘We apologise for any disruption and will provide additional updates to our customers as appropriate.’

A week since Asos was targeted

Fashion retailer Asos was ‘compromised’ last week. (Photo by Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The latest cyber incident comes a week after Asos customers’ phones pinged with a sinister-sounding push notification.

The mysterious notification claimed to have ‘compromised’ the Snowflake service before threatening to ‘leak it.’

Shoppers were subsequently told that some personal information, including names and contact details, was accessed.

Information accessed might also include details people search on the Asos website, according to the BBC.

Snowflake, the data storage firm, confirmed that the breach was not caused by a vulnerability or a flaw in its system.

Yesterday, H&M also said it is investigating reports of a possible cyber incident last week, which may have been carried out by a group called Shinyhunters.

In France, major supermarkets were targeted by rogue hackers who turned up supermarket fridge temperatures.

The cyber criminals were able to dial up the temperatures across hundreds of supermarkets as high as 50°C, spoiling large amounts of frozen food.

The hack targeted the freezers of Coopérative U, Intermarché, E.Leclerc, Monoprix and Carrefour.

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