The retail sector is under fire from hackers like never before. Hot on the heels, no pun intended, of the Victoria’s Secret cyberattack, and the newly confirmed password attacks impacting data belonging to customers of The North Face, comes news that luxury jeweller and watchmaker brand, Cartier, has also succumbed to cybercriminal activity. Breach disclosure emails are already being received by impacted Cartier customers that state, in part, “an unauthorized party gained temporary access to our system and obtained limited client information.” Here’s what we know so far.

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With the U.K. retail sector still reeling from the truly massive cyberattack against high-street icon Marks & Spencer, a ransomware hack that is expected to cost the business more than $400 million in lost profits, according to a London Stock Exchange filing, the focus now appears to have switched to U.S. retail and luxury brands in particular. Although there is no indication that these attacks are of the ransomware kind, the fact that both Cartier and The North Face are now facing brand reputation fallout serves to demonstrate the importance of cybersecurity defense at all levels.

In actual fact, what we do know about the Cartier cyberattack is limited at this stage to what the company has disclosed. And that’s not very much. An investigation, Cartier said, has determined that names, emails, and the country of origin of customers may have been compromised during the security incident. However, Cartier noted that the stolen data “did not include any passwords, credit card details or other banking information.”

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James Hadley, chief innovation officer at Immersive, warned that the retail sector should realize that a harsh new reality is dawning, one where inadequate recovery plans and incident response leave retailers perpetually vulnerable. “Retailers, overflowing with customer information, have become easy targets for attackers, and the consequences are substantial,” Hadley said. While hackers have been well aware that the retail sector veers to the weaker side of the cyber-defense graph, “the recent string of breaches will have emboldened them further,” Hadley said. Given that such compromised data is the backbone of the social engineering world, providing cybercriminals with the fuel they need to power phishing attacks for months to come, such warnings must be taken seriously.

I have reached out to Cartier for a statement, but in the meantime, the disclosure emails have confirmed that the security incident has already been contained and the relevant authorities have been informed. “Given the nature of the data,” Cartier said, “we recommend that you remain alert for any unsolicited communications or any other suspicious correspondence.”

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