Asos say customers’ basic information have have been accessed in apparent hackpublished at 18:03 BST
18:03 BST
Freya Scott-Turner
Live reporter
At around 10:00 this morning, a notification sent from the retailer Asos to its app users read:
“ASOS HACKED: Dear Asos DPO and IT, we have fully compromised the Snowflake instance”.
Some users mistook it for a grabby marketing attempt, but panic arose amid speculation that Asos had been hacked.
By mid-afternoon, Asos confirmed that it was “an unauthorised customer notification” and “basic personal information” may have been accessed. But it noted it did not think payment-card information or passwords were affected.
The BBC understands the Metropolitan Police are aware of reports that a company based in Camden experienced an alleged cyber incident and they are engaging with the company as enquiries continue.
Data storage company Snowflake – which was referred to in the push notification as “fully compromised” – told the BBC that its investigations had “found no compromise” of its platform.
“It’s scary”, said 20-year-old Riah Angeli Malonzo, who told the BBC that she’s “taking a break” from shopping on the site.
Normally these extortions happen in secret, says cyber correspondent Joe Tidy, who queries if the hackers have decided to carry out this highly public move because they have so far been ignored or resisted.
Many questions remain about this incident, including who is behind it and why. But the damage its caused to Asos’ stock – which tumbled by almost a tenth of its value – is undisputed.
We’re ending our live coverage now, but you can keep up to date with the latest on this in our news piece.