American clothing and accessories retailer Forever 21 is warning of a data breach affecting more than 500,000 people. The company is sending notifications to individuals to inform them of the exposure of their data.
Forever 21 is a large company with 540 stores worldwide and approximately 43,000 employees.
According to a sample data breach notification shared with the Maine Attorney General's Office, the company detected a cyberattack on March 20.
Hackers accessed systems between January and March and appear to have exploited this access to steal data.
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“ The investigation revealed that an unauthorized third party accessed certain Forever 21 systems, at various times, between January 5, 2023, and March 21, 2023 ,” Forever 21’s data breach notification states
Hackers managed to steal selected files from certain systems.
The data breach notification sent on August 29 to 539,207 people states that the data that may have been breached is:
- Full name
- Social Security Number (SSN)
- Date of birth
- Bank account number
- Information about the Forever 21 employee health plan
It is said that former and current employees of the company have been mainly affected .
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In the notice, Forever 21 says it has taken steps to ensure that the hackers have deleted the stolen data. This means that the company has likely reached out to the attackers. This is common in ransomware, where the victim negotiates with the hackers to reduce the ransom amount. However, there has been no confirmed ransomware on Forever 21 yet. The company also says it has no indication that the stolen data has been shared with other cybercriminals.
All individuals affected by the Forever 21 data breach will find instructions on how to sign up for a fraud and theft (for twelve months, free).
In November 2017, Forever 21 had notified its customers of another data breach that affected its payment system.
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The data breach affecting large companies like Forever 21 draws attention to the importance of cybersecurity in the modern era. It’s not just the financial cost associated with repairing the damage from such an attack, but also the adverse impact on customer. It’s obvious that the attackers were able to bypass the company’s security measures, which highlights the need for stricter data protection procedures and the development of stronger security structures.
Source: www.bleepingcomputer.com
