The retail sector has experienced a concerning surge in cyberattacks over the past month. Most recently, Cartier disclosed a data breach in which unauthorised parties gained access to its systems and obtained customer information. According to notification letters sent to affected individuals, the compromised data includes names, email addresses, and countries of residence. Cartier emphasised that more sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card numbers, and banking details were not exposed in the breach. The luxury brand has informed law enforcement and engaged external cybersecurity experts to remediate the situation.
This incident is part of a broader pattern affecting fashion retailers. In May, Dior disclosed a similar breach where threat actors accessed customer contact details, purchase histories, and preferences. Adidas also warned customers about a data breach resulting from a compromise at one of its third-party service providers. Most notably, Victoria’s Secret took down its website and some store services last week due to an ongoing security incident, highlighting the industry-wide vulnerability to such attacks. In the UK, Marks and Spencer experienced a breach and a month on, their online store still can’t accept orders.
Outdoor apparel retailer North Face has warned customers that their personal information was stolen in credential stuffing attacks targeting the company’s website in April. The attack, discovered on April 23, 2025, exposed customer data including full names, purchase histories, shipping addresses, email addresses, dates of birth, and telephone numbers. Payment information was reportedly not compromised as an external provider handles it.
This incident marks the fourth credential stuffing attack North Face has suffered since 2020, highlighting persistent security challenges for the brand. Earlier this year, its parent company, VF Outdoor, disclosed a similar attack impacting both The North Face and Timberland websites, which was discovered on March 13, 2025, and affected 15,700 accounts. Previous incidents in November 2020 and September 2022 impacted over 200,000 customers collectively.
Credential stuffing attacks exploit the common practice of password reuse across multiple services, allowing attackers to gain unauthorised access using credentials leaked from other breaches. Security experts continue to emphasise the importance of implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) to mitigate such attacks, even when passwords are compromised. For North Face they dont seem to be learning their lesson.