HN Explorer

44 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 14.5 ms ] thread
rithdmc
Does Snowflake allow you to push messages via in-app messaging? I didn't think it did. This breach might be a little broader than reported.
jmkni
I've seen comments from people claiming they used to work at Asos saying that they have a Braze/Snowflake integration, and the push notification was sent from Braze
rithdmc
That'll do it. Thank you.
potatoproduct
Yep, my first thought is they probably are probably getting the candidate push notifications from snowflake.
UK-Al05
When I used to work there they used databricks not snowflake. So it gave me a bit wtf when i got the notification.
domaaju
I received the push notification via the app this morning as well. Extremely bizarre and not how normally one finds out about a company getting hacked.
vachina
Why do you have an app installed just to buy clothes
domaaju
As the person above. I enjoy clothes browsing and shopping, and the app provides a very good experience, plus you normally tend to get app-only discounts. From a retailer perspective, (if the app is good) they get better retention and order value numbers from app customers.
drbscl
Most people do these days; it's convenient. Businesses push it because it improves retention too.
wat10000
Installing an app takes two seconds. It’s not a big effort.
andruschakartem
The ransom note was addressed to their DPO, customers just got CC'd via push.
glownagger
Five popups. Five. To read this article that doesn't even tell me what ASOS is.
m4tthumphrey
For others its a huge online fashion retailer in the UK (and maybe elsewhere?).
ameliaquining
Second paragraph mentions that it's a "clothing and beauty store".
Zhyl
It's a BBC article for a British retailer. I reckon the knowledge was reasonably assumed for the intended audience.
ifwinterco
It’s extremely well known in the UK which is the intended audience, although even here older readers might not have heard of it
nilamo
You can read any of it? I just get told to fuck off without a subscription.
ChrisRR
Literally the second sentence says it's a clothing store

(ignoring the fact that it's extremely well known in the UK and doesn't need introducing in the UK)

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
m4tthumphrey
Stock down 13% today. Interestingly ASOS has been steadily growing this year, would be interested to see Polymarkets today...
hnacobsxph
Braze API keys end up in a dozen CI configs and nobody rotates them. Campaign send is one POST.
[deleted]
(comment deleted)
iamacyborg
I am genuinely impressed at the lack of tech literacy in the live feed about this from the beeb.
roryirvine
Yeah, I noticed they were recommending that users log in and reset their password - at a time when ASOS still hadn't said anything about the extent of the problem.

For all they knew, the attackers could have been able to subvert the reset process to collect plaintext passwords, so the Beeb's advice risked turning a disaster for ASOS into a catastrophe for their users.

altcognito
I'm not sure who is recommending that, but if it is in the general channel it could be the proverbial bad guys making that recommendation in order to grab more account credentials.
eameam
Seems more likely to me that the braze api key was exposed
NoHedgeAllBets
Thanks to this hack I now know what ASOS is.
Rygian
Same here, first time I see that brand.
matltc
British in here putting downies on our ignorance of their retail concern
cube00
> Asos did not immediately respond to the BBC's requests for comment.

Amazing how companies think if they say nothing it'll somehow just go away. Couldn't even be bothered to reply to say they're looking into it.

mcintyre1994
I wonder how little time "immediate" means though. They probably have an overwhelming amount of incoming - from journalists, security service providers, and opportunist scammers posing as both of those groups among other things.
quickthrowman
I assume they sent the email at least one minute prior to publishing the article when the sentence is phrased like that, it doesn’t really mean anything other than “We have asked them a question and have yet to receive any reply”. The waiting period could actually be a single minute and still be truthful.
Aurornis
Notice the word “immediately” in that statement.

The journalists were in a rush to publish breaking news. They weren’t going to wait for a response.

This is just a CYA statement to say that they sent a message to the company to do their job but, quite literally, did not immediately get a response.

everfrustrated
It just means the author fired an email in the second before they pressed "publish" on the article.
hnlmorg
Usually the lack of response is because an official response hasn’t yet been approved by the legal department, and then signed off by the board. These things take longer than modern journalism takes to publish an article.
ChrisRR
Why does a clothes store need an app in the first place?
m4tthumphrey
As per my other comment to the same question:

> Because I buy a lot of clothes and the ASOS app is well built and its slightly easier to use than the site.

UK-Al05
80% of their orders come through the app
lostmsu
The right reaction to any undesired notification is immediate removal of the app.