WH Smith cyber attack targets company data and information of current & former employees

High-street retailer WH Smith is the latest company to be hit by cyber attacks

WH Smith has confirmed it has been the target of a cyber attack with some company data and staff information accessed by hackers. Fortunately, customer accounts and information has not been compromised, says the high-street retailer.

On March 2, the books and stationery chain announced it had launched an investigation into the incident and has notified relevant authorities about the breach: "WH Smith takes the issue of cyber security extremely seriously and investigations into the incident are ongoing.

"We are notifying all affected colleagues and have put measures in place to support them,” it added. "There has been no impact on the trading activities of the group. Our website, customer accounts and underlying customer databases are on separate systems that are unaffected by this incident."

The cyber attack affects current and former employees of the company with names, addresses, National Insurance numbers and dates of birth all at risk. The news comes months after Royal Mail and JD Sports were also targeted by hackers.

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In January 2023, JD Sports confirmed around 10 million people might have had vital information accessed by hackers including phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses. The company apologises to customers affected by the incident.