Adidas customers’ personal information at risk after data breach

Lovers of Adidas clothes would be wise to be on their guard against phishing attacks, after the German sportswear giant revealed that a cyber attack had exposed the personal information of customers.

In a statement published on its website, Adidas said that it had recently become aware that “certain consumer data” had been stolen by an “unauthorised external party.”

According to the company, the security breach occurred at an unnamed third-party customer service provider rather than on Adidas’s own systems. However, that is not going to be any comfort for those individuals whose data may now be in the hands of fraudsters and cybercriminals.

The good news is that Adidas says that the affected data does not include passwords, or payment-related details. Instead, according to the firm, “it mainly consists of contact information relating to consumers who have contacted our customer service help desk in the past.”

Adidas says that it has informed the relevant regulators and authorities, and will be reaching out to those consumers affected by the data breach.

The company has not said how many people have been impacted by the security breach, how it occurred, or when it first detected. Hopefully the number of people who have a reason to contact Adidas’s help desk is relatively low compared to the number of people who must purchase Adidas clothing and shoes each year.

Sadly this isn’t the only cybersecurity incident to impact Adidas in recent weeks.

As Bleeping Computer reports, earlier this month Adidas did disclose that customers in Turkey and South Korea who had contacted its customer service centre had had their contact information (including names, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, and postal addresses) stolen.

The company has also notified the relevant authorities regarding this security incident and will alert those affected by the data breach.

So don’t be surprised if you receive an email from Adidas.

However, my advice would be to be very wary of how you respond to an email which claims to be from Adidas. After all, criminals may now have your contact details.

It is not hard to imagine that anyone with access to Adidas customer data might now conjure up a scam email claiming to come from Adidas, apologising for the data breach, and offering some type of voucher if you just visit the following link and enter your payment information…

Customers who have interacted with Adidas’ customer service in the past are advised to remain vigilant for potential phishing attempts and to report any suspicious communications to the company.

Tread safely everyone.