Experts reveal steps you should take to protect yourself if you received threatening ASOS 'hack' alert

Thousands of ASOS shoppers were left stunned after receiving a chilling app notification on their phone screens warning of a 'hack'.

The alert buzzed through on Tuesday morning (6 October), and appeared to go on to threaten the owners of the app over a possible 'leak'.

It left users bewildered and rushing to social media to question what was going on and what it would mean for them.

The ASOS app is a way for shoppers to add items to personalised baskets and purchase items online directly for delivery.

But a cybersecurity incident had occurred where unauthorised third parties sent a mass alert to users claiming they 'fully compromised the Snowflake instance', which is a cloud data platform used by the company.

Some people reported they had faults with the ASOS website too. Around 500 website issues were also reported minutes before 10am, according to DownDetector.

ASOS is yet to issue any statements surrounding the incident or clarify exactly what happened and what it means for users.

But tech experts have told LADbible exactly what this type of breach means and how users can take clear steps to protect themselves.

LADbible also clicked the link which invited users of Telegram to a closed group called the Xuanye group gateway, which had 316 subscribers at the time of writing.

"Users should take steps"

Dr Junade Ali, a Cybersecurity Expert and Fellow at The Institution of Engineering and Technology explained it involved a 'threat actor' that threatened to leak a corporate database.

Dr Ali said: “This is yet another example of criminal hackers using data for extortion purposes. A threat actor has essentially pushed a notification on the ASOS app threatening to leak a corporate database if demands are not met.

"Here the threat actor has chosen to make the compromise visible, which is not uncommon for extortion purposes."

Explaining steps that can be taken, he continued: "Users should take steps to ensure they are using randomly-generated, long, unique passwords for different accounts, enable Two-Factor Authentication where possible, and back up important data.

"Be wary of scammers who may attempt to use any personal data for scams.”

Customer data may be at risk

Meanwhile Ben Kazlauskas, CEO of web data platform Decodo, which handles large-scale data systems for businesses, explained what customer data might be at risk.\

But it isn't just about taking action today, with users warned to 'be cautious' about emails and messages for a number of weeks.

Speaking to LADbible following the alert, he said: "Depending on what a company stores there, it could include names, email addresses, phone numbers, delivery addresses, and order history.

"Full payment card details are usually handled by separate payment processors, so they're less likely to sit in an analytics database, but that depends on each company's setup."

He added: "Don't click the link in the notification or engage with it. Be extra cautious with emails, texts, or calls claiming to be from ASOS in the coming weeks, as scammers often use breach news for phishing.

"Change your ASOS password, and anywhere else you've reused it, and turn on two-factor authentication where possible."