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The luxury department store Harrods has
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warned shoppers their personal data may
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have been stolen in an IT systems
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breach. Harrods says information uh like
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names, contact details of some online
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customers was hacked from a third-party
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provider, but no passwords or payment
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details were taken. A Harrod
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spokesperson said its own system had not
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been compromised and the breach wasn't
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connected to a previous cyber attack in
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May. Let's speak to our business
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correspondent, Mark Ashdown, who is
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standing by for us. Hi, Mark. What do we
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Hi, Lewis. Yeah, uh customers got an
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email Friday night uh yesterday from
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Howards informing them that some of
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their personal details could have been
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accessed. Now, as you say, it pointed
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out this personal data extended to names
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and contact details, but not passwords
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or any payment uh information or
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details. And as you say, Harrods at
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pains to point out this was not its own
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internal systems that were targeted, but
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those of a third-party provider. Now, it
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hasn't named this uh third party
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provider, but it says it is working with
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it closely, has made all the necessary
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arrangements, taken all the appropriate
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steps, also said it's working closely
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with the relevant authorities. Uh but as
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you say, it's the second time Harrods
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has been targeted this year. Back in
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May, its own systems were targeted by
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hackers. At that point, it had to uh
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restrict access to its uh internet sites
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or online uh sales for a time while it
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worked out what had happened there.
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Today though, it said that the two
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incidents, the one this week and the one
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back in May, as far as it has any
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evidence, were completely unconnected.
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And Mark Harrods has been running a a
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redress scheme for victims of Muhammad
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Ali. There concerns now that data around
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that could be involved here.
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Yeah, absolutely. Last year, those
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allegations came to light about the
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alleged abuse by the former Harrods
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owner, Muhammad Aliad. At the time, the
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company sincerely apologized, admitted
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it had let down people uh back then, and
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it set up, as you say, uh a red address
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scheme. Now, it runs to uh more than 100
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people and it is has been set up to sort
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compensation for them. And yes, obvious
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concern that potentially that may have
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been compromised. But I put that to
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Harros today and they uh clarified
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saying all the data involved in that red
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address scheme is held by an external
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law firm called MPL Legal. Uh so it said
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there is none of it in any way has been
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affected by this breach whatsoever. And
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as I say, reiterating again, this is a
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third party provider that was targeted,
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not its own internal systems. Mark,
