The ASOS incident: When attackers use the channels customers trust

ASOS customers opened their phones to find a hostile push notification delivered through the retailer’s own app. The message claimed the company’s Snowflake environment had been compromised and directed ASOS to engage with the sender through Telegram. ASOS later confirmed to Sky News that an unauthorized customer notification had been sent and said it was investigating activity involving third-party platforms used to communicate with customers. The company also said basic personal information, including names and contact details, may have been accessed, while payment-card information and account passwords were not believed to be affected.The attackers’ wider claims remain unverified, and Snowflake told Sky News that its investigation had found no compromise of the Snowflake platform at that point. Even without knowing the full route into ASOS’s environment, though, the notification raises a useful question for security teams: what happens when an attacker can communicate through a channel customers already trust?When the message comes from the real appMost security awareness advice assumes there will be something suspicious for the recipient to notice. The sender might be unfamili…

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