Two more major retailers hit by cyber attacks with customer information stolen

Two more major retailers have been hit by and both confirm customer data was compromised, as the number of at retailers continues to climb.

Luxury watchmaker and jeweller Cartier and outdoor retailer The North Face confirmed this week that they had become the latest retailers to be hit.

In an email to customers, the upmarket watch retailer said that "an unauthorised party gained temporary access" to its system and "obtained limited client information".

This included names and email addresses. However, the Swiss-owned company confirmed that the data accessed did not include passwords or banking information. Cartier did not confirm exactly when the cyber attack took place.

In the email, it said: "We contained the issue and have further enhanced the protection of our systems and data."

It added that it had boosted its cybersecurity measures and reported the incident to the relevant authorities.

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Fashion brand The North Face admitted that it had experienced a "small-scale" attack in April this year. The retailer said the stolen information could include shipping addresses, purchase history, email addresses, names, phone numbers and dates of birth.

Again, it told customers that financial information was not accessed. The retailer told its customers that the hackers had used a technique called "credential stuffing".

This is where attackers try usernames and passwords stolen from another data breach, in the hope that customers have reused the same passwords across multiple accounts. It urged all customers to change passwords to their accounts.

These attacks are part of a series of recent cybersecurity incidents that have affected high-profile retailers, including , , Adidas, Harrods, and Victoria's Secret.

and the Co-op had their operations severely disrupted when they were targeted in April. M&S said the cyber attack will cost it over £300million, and seven weeks after it occurred, the retailer is still unable to take online orders. It says its services will likely continue to be disrupted until July.

At the time, the upmarket supermarket and retailer confirmed that the stolen information could include people's names, home addresses, phone numbers, or email addresses, as well as dates of birth and online order history.

Retailers are often targets of cyber attacks, due to the amount of data they can hold on a customer. James Hadley, founder of the cybersecurity company Immersive, told the that the attacks are a "harsh reality" for the industry.

He noted that retailers were "overflowing with customer information," and are "easy targets for attackers".

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