Cyber Attacks on Shoe Retailers, Fashion Brands Expected to Rise Amid Several Online Outages

As the retail sector continues to be a prime target for cyber attacks and hackers, shoe retailers and fashion brands selling online need to be aware of the potential risks ahead. Recent high-profile incidents have highlighted the importance of online security and the devastating consequences of a successful attack.

A Malware Attack Brings Down Muji's Online Operations

Japanese retailer Muji took its online operations offline following a malware attack on Askul Corp., which services the order acceptance and shipping processes for Muji and other retailers such as Japanese lifestyle specialty chain The Loft Co. The sites remain down as Askul continues to work towards resolving the ransomware attack.

Askul's breach is not an isolated incident, as several online outages have occurred recently. On Monday, Amazon's own Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a major outage due to a misfiring of its domain name system (DNS). The issue did not appear to be related to a cyber attack, but rather a technical issue involving the recognition of website domain names and their respective IP addresses.

America's Largest Cloud Provider, Amazon's AWS, Experiences Outage

The outage at AWS resulted in significant disruptions to various services, including social media apps such as Snapchat and Reddit, as well as platforms for banks and financial services, airlines, retail sites like Verizon, Starbucks, DoorDash, and Grubhub. Even Amazon's own e-commerce platform was affected.

More Fashion Brands Fall Victim to Cyber Attacks

Other fashion brands have also experienced cyber attacks in recent months. Adidas reported a breach in May that targeted consumers' personal information, while The North Face suffered a similar attack using "credential stuffing" to gain access to customer log-in accounts.

A Global Phenomenon

Cyber attacks on fashion brands and retailers are not limited to the US. Fashion firms overseas have also seen their share of online security incidents. For example, Harrods, Marks & Spencer, and The Co-op Group in the UK were targeted by hackers, while Dior confirmed a data breach involving its Chinese customer base.

A Growing Concern

Data breaches have been around for years, but recent high-profile incidents highlight the growing concern. In 2013, American mass discounter Target Corp. suffered a breach that compromised 40 million credit card and debit card records, as well as 70 million customer records.

Experts Warn of Rising Ransomware Attacks

"This is another prime example of how far-reaching the consequences of a ransomware attack can be," said Comparitech's head of data research Rebecca Moody. "While we don't yet know which gang is responsible for the attack on Askul, you can bet your bottom dollar we'll find out soon if ransom negotiations fail."

Experts Advise Preparation and Resilience

"The best way to fight ransomware" is to be prepared, recover quickly, work around disruptions, and avoid paying the groups behind them. "Ultimately, resilience must extend past your perimeter to the partners that support your operations," said Javvad Malik, lead chief information security officer advisor at KnowBe4.

Recommendations from IT Experts

"Customers don't care whose network was hit, they only see that the service or product they need is unavailable and that impacts trust," emphasized Malik. He also advised mapping critical dependencies beyond IT to logistics and fulfillment, setting minimum security baselines in contracts, and practicing "supplier outage" playbooks.