The data breach suffered by Vans, one of the brands of the American global clothing and footwear giant VF Corporation, detected on December 13 last year, led the company to take immediate action. Vans notified its customers of possible fraud or identity theft and said it has temporarily suspended affected IT systems to contain and remediate the cyberattack. According to the company, by December 15, unauthorized actors were successfully removed from the IT environment and there was a concentration of efforts to restore the affected systems and operations.
According to investigations, the cyber attack on Vans may have compromised customers’ personal information, including email addresses, full names, phone numbers, billing and shipping addresses, and order details. However, it notes that financial information such as bank account or credit card details were not stored on the affected systems.
Despite the immediate response from the VF Group, which also owns the Timberland, The North Face and Dickies brands, concerns remain regarding the potential risks for people whose information was part of the breached dataset. Although there is currently no evidence of a direct impact on consumers, the incident reinforces the importance of vigilance in safeguarding personal information.
However, VF Group has advised customers to exercise caution when responding to communications, especially those requesting personal information. Additionally, they are warned to be careful with suspicious emails, attachments and hyperlinks as they could be used in phishing attempts or to direct consumers to malicious websites.
The apparel and footwear giant assured customers of its commitment to prioritizing privacy and security. The company said it continues to closely monitor the situation, while also reviewing and improving its cybersecurity measures to mitigate future risks.
The December incident comes on the heels of an earlier cyberattack reported by VF Corp, which resulted in a data breach affecting approximately 35.5 million consumers. While VF Group does not anticipate a financial impact from the incident, the company remains vigilant in its efforts to protect customer data and mitigate potential risks to its operations and reputation.
Source: CisoAdvisor
