[BreachExchange] Tesco website forced offline by hacking offensive

[Terrell Byrd]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/tesco-reeling-after-hackers-bring-down-its-website/ar-AAPTpF5


Tesco has been targeted by hackers, crashing its website and app and
causing frustration for thousands of customers.

The hack, one of the worst cyber attacks to date on a British supermarket,
poses a “serious problem” for Tesco’s reputation and is estimated to be
costing £20m a day in lost revenue.

Tesco first revealed the problem on Saturday morning and the online
shopping service was not restored until late on Sunday night.

A spokesman for Tesco said: “An attempt was made to interfere with our
systems. which has caused problems with the search function on the site.”

Alhough details of the cause of the problems have not been disclosed, it is
understood that the outage is not a result of a ransomware attack.

“There is no reason to believe that this issue impacts customer data and we
continue to take ongoing action to make sure all data stays safe,” Tesco
added.

Under UK law, companies have a duty to report personal data breaches within
72 hours of them becoming aware of the incident. This would give Tesco
until Monday morning to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office if
any customer information was found to have been lost.

Customers responded angrily on social media. One shopper tweeted: “I tried
all the recommended methods yesterday for cancelling my order due today,
because I couldn’t update it (including a DM) without confirmation. Can
you, please, at least give some clarity on customer data security.”

Another said: “It would be helpful if you could confirm if this is some
kind of security breach, I had a dodgy email about two hours ago supposedly
from Tesco but was clearly a phishing email.”

Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst, warned: “It may be turning into a
serious problem. I think customers shrug off website problems that last a
few hours, as par for the course – but outages lasting a day or more are
embarrassing and unhelpful.”

Clive Black, an analyst at stock broker Shore Capital estimated that Tesco
was losing roughly £20m a day in lost online sales. “It will be a real
hassle and worry for all involved until firm control and so forth is
re-established,” he said. “It will not enhance Tesco’s reputation but at
the same time attacks are part of everyday life and a new industry.”

The UK’s biggest grocer has previously been targeted by hackers. In 2014,
the data of more than 2,000 shoppers was posted online. In 2016, hackers
stole £2.3m from Tesco Bank customers.

This time around, reports emerged of Tesco customers being delivered large
quantities of the same grocery product – toilet rolls, dishwasher tablets
or cans of soft drink – due to a popular strategy used by customers to
secure slots on Tesco’s online booking system.

Customers often place dummy orders in advance, because they can update
their basket up to the night before delivery. However, over the weekend
many found themselves stuck with their original orders. Rebecca, from North
Wales, received 120 cans of a soft drink yesterday. “We were meant to get a
week’s shop this morning,” she told the BBC.

Nadia Kadhim, chief executive of Naq Cyber, said: “Data is a commodity that
is extremely valuable to companies and criminals, and should be treated
with vigilance. All companies need to realise that they’ve been entrusted
with a valuable good, and should be held responsible and accountable for
failing to protect that good adequately.”

Tesco said: "Our groceries website and app are back up and running. To help
us manage the high volume we're temporarily using a virtual waiting room.
We're really sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience."
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