Shares of the British online fashion giant ASOS sharply declined on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday, October 6, after customers received a mobile notification about a breach of the company's systems.
ASOS shares lost nearly 15 percent during trading on Tuesday. Despite this, the company's website remains accessible, although ASOS has not yet responded to an AFP request for comment.
The received notification contained the message: 'ASOS HACKED. Dear Asos DPO and IT, we have fully compromised your Snowflake instance. Engage with us, or we will leak it,' and urged the company to contact them via a Telegram link. A DPO stands for Data Protection Officer, and Snowflake is an American company that provides a cloud platform for storing, managing, and analyzing data for its clients.
Snowflake also did not respond to AFP's inquiry. Market strategy analyst Mari Wilcox from cybersecurity firm Binalyze called such a notification a 'psychological warfare' designed 'to incite panic.' According to her, the attackers expected any panic to put pressure on ASOS, forcing it to consider paying a ransom instead of developing a rational response.
Founded in 2000, ASOS reportedly has 17 million active customers worldwide. Over the 12 months ending in August 2025, the company generated revenue of £2.48 billion ($3.29 billion USD), while incurring a net loss of £298 million. The company's own brands account for 40 percent of the value of goods sold on the platform, whereas partner brands provide 60 percent.
Last year, the UK faced a wave of cyberattacks targeting, among others, Jaguar Land Rover, Marks & Spencer, Harrods department store, and the Co-op grocery chain. Furthermore, three British airports belonging to Manchester Airports Group were attacked in August, leading to the theft of personal data belonging to 8.7 million customers.