How do cyberattacks on retailers compromise personal data?

Numbers match the citations in the article. A working link isn't proof that a page supports a claim; check the quoted passage and date.

1. 1

   Data breach (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaPublished Oct 5, 2026Checked Oct 10, 2026

   “A data breach, also known as data leakage, is "the unauthorized exposure, disclosure, or loss of personal information". Attackers have a variety of motives, from financial gain to political activism, political repression, and espionage. There are several technical root causes of data breaches, including accidental or intentional disclosure of information by insiders, loss or theft of unencrypted devices, hacking into a system by exploiting software vulnerabilities, and social engineering attacks such as phishing where insiders are tricked into disclosing information. Although prevention efforts can reduce the risk of a data breach, they cannot eliminate it. A large number of data breaches are never detected. If a breach becomes known to the company holding the data, post-breach efforts commonly include containing the breach, investigating its scope and cause, and notifications to people whose records were compromised, as required by law in many jurisdictions. Law enforcement agencies may investigate breaches, although the hackers responsible are rarely caught. Criminals often sell data obtained in breaches on the dark web.”

2. 2

   A deeper look into cybersecurity issues in the wake of Covid-19: A survey.

   Journal of King Saud University. Computer and information sciences (Alawida et al.)Published Aug 11, 2022Checked Oct 10, 2026

   “The data was generated between March 2020 and December 2021, from a global survey through online contact and responses, especially from different organizations and business executives. The result show differences in cyber-attack techniques; as hacking attacks was the most frequent with a record of 330 out of 895 attacks, accounting for 37%. Next was Spam emails attack with 13%; emails with 13%; followed by malicious domains with 9%. Mobile apps followed with 8%, Phishing was 7%, Malware 7%, Browsing apps with 6%, DDoS has 6%, Website apps with 6%, and MSMM with 6%. BEC frequency was 4%, Ransomware with 2%, Botnet scored 2% and APT recorded 1%. The study recommends that it will continue to be necessary for governments and organizations to be resilient and innovative in cybersecurity decisions to overcome the current and future effects of the pandemic or similar crisis, which could be long-lasting. Hence, this study's findings will guide the creation, development, and implementation of more secure systems to safeguard people from cyber-attacks.”

3. 3

   Asos hackers took more personal details than first revealed, BBC finds

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 8, 2026Checked Oct 10, 2026

   “Retailer issues update after BBC contacted by cyber criminals who said this week's breach went beyond "basic contact details"”

4. 4

   Cyberattacks in supply chains: A multi-case study.

   PloS one (Zhang et al.)Published May 22, 2026Checked Oct 10, 2026

   “The scale of disruption is systematically amplified by inter-system coordination failures, while resilience emerges only when proactive information sharing is activated by strong internal organizational readiness. We introduce the concept of synergy dependency, demonstrating that external relational governance is hierarchically contingent on internal organizational controls, and reconceptualize Points of Penetration (PoPs) as dynamic transmission mechanisms that convert localized digital breaches into systemic operational paralysis. This research offers empirically grounded insights that adapt the SCCSS framework from a classificatory tool into a process-oriented model capable of explaining how cyber risk propagates as a lifecycle of entry, transmission, and interruption. The findings contribute analytical interpretations to supply chain governance theory by showing that cyber resilience is conditionally interdependent across subsystems. Practically, the study offers actionable guidance for implementing secure architecture, cross-organizational threat intelligence sharing, and supplier-support programs to strengthen the resilience of complex global supply chain ecosystems.”

5. 5

   List of data breaches (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaPublished Sep 29, 2026Checked Oct 10, 2026

   “This is a non-exhaustive list of reports about data breaches, using data compiled from am news articles. The list includes those involving the theft or compromise of 30,000 or more records, although many smaller breaches occur continually. Note that other sources compile more complete lists. Breaches of large organizations where the number of records is still unknown are also listed. In addition, the various methods used in the breaches are listed, with hacking being the most common. As a result of data breaches, it is estimated that in first half of 2018 alone, about 4.5 billion records were exposed. In 2019, a collection of 2.7 billion identity records, consisting of 774 million unique email addresses and 21 million unique passwords, was posted on the web for sale. In January 2024, a data breach dubbed the "mother of all breaches" was uncovered. Over 26 billion records, including some from Twitter, Adobe, Canva, LinkedIn, and Dropbox, were found in the database. No organization immediately claimed responsibility.”