Hackers make contact with Harrods following data breach

The luxury department store has been contacted by a “threat actor”, following a cyberattack which saw data relating to 430,000 customer records stolen in a security breach. 

Harrods said it would not be engaging with the hackers, and that the stolen data, which was taken from a third party provider, was limited to basic information and didn’t include payment details or account passwords. 

“Our focus remains on informing and supporting our customers. We have informed all relevant authorities and will continue to co-operate with them,” said a spokesperson. 

Harrods did not reveal what the hackers had said, but stated this week’s breach on its systems was unrelated to attempts to hack the department store earlier this year. 

It’s understood that the majority of Harrods customers shop with the retaler in-store, and therefore the breach would have affected only a small proportion of its shoppers. 

The retailer said that certain information taken in the breach, including marketing preferences, loyalty cards and tie-ins to other companies, was ”unlikely to be interpreted accurately by an unauthorised third party”.

“We would like to reiterate that no payment details or order history information has been accessed and the impacted personal data remains limited to basic personal identifiers as advised previously.” it said.