High street newsagent chain WH Smith has revealed it was the subject of a cyber attack in which hackers gained access to corporate data.
The retailer said that information about both current and previous employees was accessible to hackers.
It emphasised that its website, customer accounts, and customer records are on unaffected systems and that the attack has not harmed its trading activities.
The company said in a statement: “Upon becoming aware of the incident, we immediately launched an investigation, engaged specialist support services and implemented our incident response plans, which included notifying the relevant authorities.”
It added: “WH Smith takes cyber security very seriously, and investigations into the incident are underway. We have informed all affected colleagues”.
The event occurred amid a recent wave of cyber attacks, during which hackers attacked Royal Mail and caused a significant interruption to their international mail operation.
The retailer JD Sports also issued a warning in January, estimating that a hack may have resulted in the theft of information from 10 million customers, including addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
