ASOS customers received a bizarre and concerning push notification on Tuesday morning, sparking fears that the online retailer may have been hacked. The message, sent to those with the ASOS app downloaded, read: "Dear Asos DPO and IT, we have fully compromised the Snowflake instance. Engage with us, or we will leak it." A link was also included in the notification.
What the message means
The term DPO refers to a data protection officer, the person appointed by a company to oversee the protection and security of customer information. Snowflake is a cloud-based data platform used by a wide range of businesses.
ASOS has yet to release a statement, and it is currently unclear which data might be affected, if any at all. The alarming message was distributed via a push notification, which alerts users who have the app installed on their devices.
Reaction and next steps
One customer responded on social media, writing: "ASOS hacked, never deleted my payment methods so quick looool." The post included a link to further content.
This is a live blog, and coverage will be updated as more information becomes available. No official statement from ASOS has been issued at the time of writing.
