The latest Tesco cyberattack: a near-miss?

It will have been hard to miss the major news that hit the mainstream media over the last couple of weeks. The latest Tesco cyberattack appears to have now concluded, and the news so far looks to suggest that it was a near-miss event.

Hopefully, this will mean that no one will have to endure their personal information being misused or exposed. Anyone who is the victim of a data breach can be entitled to claim compensation for the loss of control of their personal information if this happens.

About the Tesco cyberattack

At the end of October 2021, the latest Tesco cyberattack hit the news and reportedly left thousands of shoppers unable to complete their online orders and unable to access vital infrastructure the supermarket giant relies on. As the Covid Pandemic continues to affect us all, and with rising infections of late, many have been making use of their online services for quite some time. Even before that, online facilities are essential for those of us who are less able to reach the shops with ease.

As such, the disruption caused by this latest attempt by hackers to compromise the retail giant was significant. The disruption hit their online groceries business as well as their app, and it looks like they have had to work hard to get things back online.

When news of the hack attempt reached the populous, you could almost hear the collective sigh as we raised our arms and (all together now) said: “here we go again”! It seems that disruption from hacks and attacks will continue to be a part of everyday life, especially as we continue to move more and more to the digital side of things as a society. The benefits can be monumental, but the risks when it comes to cybersecurity are plain to see.

A near-miss?

As things stand, it does not appear that any customer information has been compromised in the Tesco cyberattack. A spokesperson reportedly told the Guardian last week that: “There is no reason to believe that this issue impacts customer data and we continue to take ongoing action to make sure all data stays safe.”

It appears to have been declared as an “attempt” being made to interfere with their systems. Whilst major disruption ensued, it does not appear that personal information has been compromised, according to the supermarket. Let’s hope that it stays this way.

The Your Lawyers view

Your Lawyers – The Data Leak Lawyers – is a leading firm of data compensation experts, representing thousands of people for claims, having recovered over £1m in damages for victims to date. Our privacy work dates back to 2014, which is a great deal longer than most other firms now looking into this complex area of law. This means that we have been there for those earlier events where claims were brought, such as the 56 Dean Street Clinic leak of 2015, and the TalkTalk cyberattack of the same year.

As we often say when we talk to the media, we are never really surprised when we see incidents like this latest Tesco cyberattack appear in the news. Hackers continue to work very hard to compromise big companies with the view to expose vast amounts of personal information that could then be used for fraud and theft. Hitting one large company to try to steal the data for hundreds of thousands, or even millions, can yield results, so everyone needs to be wary of the constant threat they are under.

Fraudsters only need a little information to be able to succeed with a scam. The hackers are clever, and they even reinvest stolen money in further developing their systems to become even better, much like a legitimate business does. Whilst it appears that this was a near-miss event, it serves as a stark reminder as to why we all need to continue to be incredibly vigilant when it comes to cybersecurity and protecting the personal information that we all store and process.

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