Phase Eight, Hobbs and Whistles owner discloses a cyber incident a week after Asos

The Independent calls this the second hack to hit a UK retailer in a week ^[9]. The two disclosures describe different things. Asos spoke of unauthorised access to personal data ^[10]. TFG London describes an incident affecting some of its IT systems ^[4].

The one outside party named so far is Snowflake, and it has pushed back. Asos customers received a phone alert saying the retailer had been hacked ^[11]. The alert pinned the problem on a compromise at Snowflake, a data storage firm ^[11]. Snowflake later said the breach did not stem from any vulnerability or flaw in its platform ^[12].

H&M is the third name in the record, and its position is the weakest. The Times reported that H&M said it was looking into a potential cybersecurity incident made by a group called Shinyhunters ^[8]. That is a claim under investigation, relayed second-hand. The Independent's report does not say what was accessed at TFG, who is behind it, or whether any of the three incidents are connected.

TFG's own account is short. TFG London said: "We are actively investigating and working with external cyber security specialists." ^[6] It has reported the incident to the relevant UK authorities ^[5]. Its statement on payment information is a belief held while that investigation is open, and TFG can revise it.

In our view the record supports three separate incidents reported within about a week of each other. Calling them a campaign needs a shared actor, method or supplier. The only supplier named has denied a platform flaw ^[12].