Asos Shares Plunge Following Public Data Breach Threat

Hackers sent a threat to Asos that was heard loud and clear — by both its users and investors.

Shares of Asos were down more than 11 percent to 445.90 pence in midday trading as stockholders tried to gauge the fall out of an unusual and highly visible security breach.

The company was not immediately available for comment, but shoppers who use the app were posting screenshots of a push alert they received that looked like an attempt at blackmail.

“Dear Asos DPO and IT, we have fully compromised the Snowflake instance. Engage with us, or we will leak it,” the alert read, calling out the company’s data protection officer and tech specialists and apparently referring to Snowflake, the cloud-based data storage company.

Threats against online retailers are nothing new, but they usually happen away from the consumer eye. It is very unusual for app users to have the push-alert function co-opted on their phones, putting average consumers in the middle of the crossfire.

Although many of the details are still not known, the hack looks like something of a parable for fashion in the digital age, especially with AI supercharging the ability to break into systems that were seen as secure.

Even if the hackers have nothing else but the ability to trigger a push alert to Asos app users, that in itself is the ability to disrupt the all-important relationship with the shopper.