Deirdre O Meara 
JD Sports, the sports and fashion retailer, has recently been the victim of a cyber attack. This attack compromised customer data on orders from November 2018 to October 2020, from brands such as JD, Size?, Millets, Blacks, Scotts and MilletSport. Some Irish customers have also been emailed about the breach and that their data may be impacted.
What Happened?
JD Sports said that the data accessed was “limited”. It does not hold full payment card details, so the breach did not affect these. It also does not believe account passwords were accessed as part of this attack. Information that may have been accessed consists of name, billing address, delivery address, email address, phone number, order details and other contact information associated with online orders.
It is important to remember that any data breach can leave customers vulnerable to fraud or identity theft. If you are a customer of JD Sports concerned they may have been affected by this incident, then it is advisable to change your password on their website and any other websites where you use the same or similar passwords.
You should also remain vigilant for any suspicious activity or emails which appear to be from JD Sports, as they could be malicious phishing attempts seeking to steal further information.
A data breach at any company carries risks for its customers but it appears in this instance that most sensitive information was held securely by JD Sports and was not compromised in the attack.
If you are concerned about your security, however, then it is advisable to change passwords for websites where your exact login details are used and remain vigilant for any suspicious emails or activity which could indicate fraudulent behaviour resulting from this incident. With vigilance and caution, we can all stay safe online despite cyber attacks like this one at JD Sports.
