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With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and shelves empty

Yahoo

35 minutes ago

Yahoo

With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and shelves empty

NEW YORK (AP) — A string of recent cyberattacks and data breaches involving the systems of major retailers have started affecting shoppers. United Natural Foods, a wholesale distributor that supplies Whole Foods and other grocers, said this week that a breach of its systems was disrupting its ability to fulfill orders — leaving many stores without certain items. In the U.K., consumers could not order from the website of Marks & Spencer for more than six weeks — and found fewer in-store options after hackers targeted the British clothing, home goods and food retailer. A cyberattack on Co-op, a U.K. grocery chain, also led to empty shelves in some stores. Cyberattacks have been on the rise across industries. But infiltrations of corporate technology carry their own set of implications when the target is a consumer-facing business. Beyond potentially halting sales of physical goods, breaches can expose customers' personal data to future phishing or fraud attempts. Here's what you need to know. Cyberattacks are on the rise overall Despite ongoing efforts from organizations to boost their cybersecurity defenses, experts note that cyberattacks continue to increase across the board. In the past year, there's also been an 'uptick in the retail victims" of such attacks, said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance, a U.S. nonprofit. 'Cyber criminals are moving a little quicker than we are in terms of securing our systems," he said. Ransomware attacks — in which hackers demand a hefty payment to restore hacked systems — account for a growing share of cyber crimes, experts note. And of course, retail isn't the only affected sector. Tracking by NCC Group, a global cybersecurity and software escrow firm, showed that industrial businesses were most often targeted for ransomware attacks in April, followed by companies in the 'consumer discretionary' sector. Attackers know there's a particular impact when going after well-known brands and products that shoppers buy or need every day, experts note. 'Creating that chaos and that panic with consumers puts pressure on the retailer,' Steinhauer said, especially if there's a ransom demand involved. Ade Clewlow, an associate director and senior adviser at the NCC Group, points specifically to food supply chain disruptions. Following the cyberattacks targeting M&S and Co-op, for example, supermarkets in remote areas of the U.K., where inventory already was strained, saw product shortages. 'People were literally going without the basics,' Clewlow said. Personal data is also at risk Along with impacting business operations, cyber breaches may compromise customer data. The information can range from names and email addresses, to more sensitive data like credit card numbers, depending on the scope of the breach. Consumers therefore need to stay alert, according to experts. 'If (consumers have) given their personal information to these retailers, then they just have to be on their guard. Not just immediately, but really going forward," Clewlow said, noting that recipients of the data may try to commit fraud 'downstream.' Fraudsters might send look-alike emails asking a retailer's account holders to change their passwords or promising fake promotions to get customers to click on a sketchy link. A good rule of thumb is to pause before opening anything and to visit the company's recognized website or call an official customer service hotline to verify the email, experts say. It's also best not to reuse the same passwords across multiple websites — because if one platform is breached, that login information could be used to get into other accounts, through a tactic known as 'credential stuffing.' Steinhauer adds that using multifactor authentication, when available, and freezing your credit are also useful for added lines of defense. Which companies have reported recent cybersecurity incidents? A range of consumer-facing companies have reported cybersecurity incidents recently — including breaches that have caused some businesses to halt operations. United Natural Foods, a major distributor for Whole Foods and other grocers across North America, took some of its systems offline after discovering 'unauthorized activity' on June 5. In a securities filing, the company said the incident had impacted its 'ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders." United Natural Foods said in a Wednesday update that it was 'working steadily' to gradually restore the services. Still, that's meant leaner supplies of certain items this week. A Whole Foods spokesperson told The Associated Press via email that it was working to restock shelves as soon as possible. The Amazon-owned grocer's partnership with United Natural Foods currently runs through May 2032. Meanwhile, a security breach detected by Victoria's Secret last month led the popular lingerie seller to shut down its U.S. shopping site for nearly four days, as well as to halt some in-store services. Victoria's Secret later disclosed that its corporate systems also were affected, too, causing the company to delay the release of its first quarter earnings. Several British retailers — M&S, Harrods and Co-op — have all pointed to impacts of recent cyberattacks. The attack targeting M&S, which was first reported around Easter weekend, stopped it from processing online orders and also emptied some store shelves. The company estimated last month that the it would incur costs of 300 million pounds ($400 million) from the attack. But progress towards recovery was shared Tuesday, when M&S announced that some of its online order operations were back — with more set to be added in the coming weeks. Other breaches exposed customer data, with brands like Adidas, The North Face and reportedly Cartier all disclosing that some contact information was compromised recently. In a statement, The North Face said it discovered a 'small-scale credential stuffing attack' on its website in April. The company reported that no credit card data was compromised and said the incident, which impacted 1,500 consumers, was 'quickly contained.' Meanwhile, Adidas disclosed last month that an 'unauthorized external party' obtained some data, which was mostly contact information, through a third-party customer service provider. Whether or not the incidents are connected is unknown. Experts like Steinhauer note that hackers sometimes target a piece of software used by many different companies and organizations. But the range of tactics used could indicate the involvement of different groups. Companies' language around cyberattacks and security breaches also varies — and may depend on what they know when. But many don't immediately or publicly specify whether ransomware was involved. Still, Steinhauer says the likelihood of ransomware attacks is 'pretty high' in today's cybersecurity landscape — and key indicators can include businesses taking their systems offline or delaying financial reporting. Overall, experts say it's important to build up 'cyber hygiene" defenses and preparations across organizations. 'Cyber is a business risk, and it needs to be treated that way," Clewlow said.

With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and and empty shelves

Yahoo

35 minutes ago

Yahoo

With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and and empty shelves

NEW YORK (AP) — A string of recent cyberattacks and data breaches involving the systems of major retailers have started affecting shoppers. United Natural Foods, a wholesale distributor that supplies Whole Foods and other grocers, said this week that a breach of its systems was disrupting its ability to fulfill orders — leaving many stores without certain items. In the U.K., consumers could not order from the website of Marks & Spencer for more than six weeks — and found fewer in-store options after hackers targeted the British clothing, home goods and food retailer. A cyberattack on Co-op, a U.K. grocery chain, also led to empty shelves in some stores. Cyberattacks have been on the rise across industries. But infiltrations of corporate technology carry their own set of implications when the target is a consumer-facing business. Beyond potentially halting sales of physical goods, breaches can expose customers' personal data to future phishing or fraud attempts. Here's what you need to know. Cyberattacks are on the rise overall Despite ongoing efforts from organizations to boost their cybersecurity defenses, experts note that cyberattacks continue to increase across the board. In the past year, there's also been an 'uptick in the retail victims" of such attacks, said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance, a U.S. nonprofit. 'Cyber criminals are moving a little quicker than we are in terms of securing our systems," he said. Ransomware attacks — in which hackers demand a hefty payment to restore hacked systems — account for a growing share of cyber crimes, experts note. And of course, retail isn't the only affected sector. Tracking by NCC Group, a global cybersecurity and software escrow firm, showed that industrial businesses were most often targeted for ransomware attacks in April, followed by companies in the 'consumer discretionary' sector. Attackers know there's a particular impact when going after well-known brands and products that shoppers buy or need every day, experts note. 'Creating that chaos and that panic with consumers puts pressure on the retailer,' Steinhauer said, especially if there's a ransom demand involved. Ade Clewlow, an associate director and senior adviser at the NCC Group, points specifically to food supply chain disruptions. Following the cyberattacks targeting M&S and Co-op, for example, supermarkets in remote areas of the U.K., where inventory already was strained, saw product shortages. 'People were literally going without the basics,' Clewlow said. Personal data is also at risk Along with impacting business operations, cyber breaches may compromise customer data. The information can range from names and email addresses, to more sensitive data like credit card numbers, depending on the scope of the breach. Consumers therefore need to stay alert, according to experts. 'If (consumers have) given their personal information to these retailers, then they just have to be on their guard. Not just immediately, but really going forward," Clewlow said, noting that recipients of the data may try to commit fraud 'downstream.' Fraudsters might send look-alike emails asking a retailer's account holders to change their passwords or promising fake promotions to get customers to click on a sketchy link. A good rule of thumb is to pause before opening anything and to visit the company's recognized website or call an official customer service hotline to verify the email, experts say. It's also best not to reuse the same passwords across multiple websites — because if one platform is breached, that login information could be used to get into other accounts, through a tactic known as 'credential stuffing.' Steinhauer adds that using multifactor authentication, when available, and freezing your credit are also useful for added lines of defense. Which companies have reported recent cybersecurity incidents? A range of consumer-facing companies have reported cybersecurity incidents recently — including breaches that have caused some businesses to halt operations. United Natural Foods, a major distributor for Whole Foods and other grocers across North America, took some of its systems offline after discovering 'unauthorized activity' on June 5. In a securities filing, the company said the incident had impacted its 'ability to fulfill and distribute customer orders." United Natural Foods said in a Wednesday update that it was 'working steadily' to gradually restore the services. Still, that's meant leaner supplies of certain items this week. A Whole Foods spokesperson told The Associated Press via email that it was working to restock shelves as soon as possible. The Amazon-owned grocer's partnership with United Natural Foods currently runs through May 2032. Meanwhile, a security breach detected by Victoria's Secret last month led the popular lingerie seller to shut down its U.S. shopping site for nearly four days, as well as to halt some in-store services. Victoria's Secret later disclosed that its corporate systems also were affected, too, causing the company to delay the release of its first quarter earnings. Several British retailers — M&S, Harrods and Co-op — have all pointed to impacts of recent cyberattacks. The attack targeting M&S, which was first reported around Easter weekend, stopped it from processing online orders and also emptied some store shelves. The company estimated last month that the it would incur costs of 300 million pounds ($400 million) from the attack. But progress towards recovery was shared Tuesday, when M&S announced that some of its online order operations were back — with more set to be added in the coming weeks. Other breaches exposed customer data, with brands like Adidas, The North Face and reportedly Cartier all disclosing that some contact information was compromised recently. In a statement, The North Face said it discovered a 'small-scale credential stuffing attack' on its website in April. The company reported that no credit card data was compromised and said the incident, which impacted 1,500 consumers, was 'quickly contained.' Meanwhile, Adidas disclosed last month that an 'unauthorized external party' obtained some data, which was mostly contact information, through a third-party customer service provider. Whether or not the incidents are connected is unknown. Experts like Steinhauer note that hackers sometimes target a piece of software used by many different companies and organizations. But the range of tactics used could indicate the involvement of different groups. Companies' language around cyberattacks and security breaches also varies — and may depend on what they know when. But many don't immediately or publicly specify whether ransomware was involved. Still, Steinhauer says the likelihood of ransomware attacks is 'pretty high' in today's cybersecurity landscape — and key indicators can include businesses taking their systems offline or delaying financial reporting. Overall, experts say it's important to build up 'cyber hygiene" defenses and preparations across organizations. 'Cyber is a business risk, and it needs to be treated that way," Clewlow said.

Fund manager who sold Tesla, just in time, says investors are overlooking these tech bargains

Yahoo

37 minutes ago

Yahoo

Fund manager who sold Tesla, just in time, says investors are overlooking these tech bargains

Two weeks ago, Wall Street veteran Gary Black sold his remaining Tesla shares, helping clients sidestep a selloff driven by a public fallout between Chief Executive Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. Black's unease with Tesla TSLA goes back a ways. When the managing partner of The Future Fund launched the One Global ETF FFND in August 2021, he snapped up Tesla, which quickly became the biggest position. By the second quarter of 2022, he began to trim as Musk started cutting electric-vehicle prices. Why Goldman Sachs says high-flying tech stocks may be headed for a tough stretch 'It might be another Apple or Microsoft': My wife invested $100K in one stock and it exploded 1,500%. Do we sell? U.S. debt-limit deadlock is making this favorite asset more scarce My friend, 83, wants to add me to his bank account to pay his bills. What could go wrong? One of our children has legal knowledge and lives far away, the other lacks financial savvy but lives nearby. Who should we appoint as executor? 'We didn't think that was a smart move. It turned out not to be a smart move, because they didn't get any incremental volume,' Black told MarketWatch in an interview on Monday. His Tesla haircuts continued, peppered by such worries as 'hype around unsupervised autonomy,' and when he finally exited it completely at $358 per share, valuation had gotten 'excessive.' Tesla shares need to be priced 'a lot less than they are today' for Black to repurchase. 'I don't want to call this stock uninvestable because at some price we would buy it back again, but with that level of volatility it almost makes the stock uninvestable at times,' he said, adding that Musk needs to 'keep his mouth closed and focus on the business.' Black, whose nearly 30-year career includes stints as CEO of Aegon Asset Management and Janus Capital, and his firm look after about $72 million in One Global, and the Long/Short ETF FFLS, roughly $49 million. One Global has returned 6.5% this year and 15% over three years, annualized, according to Morningstar, versus its MSCI All Country World Index benchmark returns of 7.3% and 14.3%, respectively. Black is now focused on what he sees as big tech bargains, such as Nvidia NVDA. The company's stock-picking process begins with 'ten long-term circular mega trends,' such as e-commerce, 24/7 information technology and, of course, artificial intelligence. 'We like the AI road map in front of [Nvidia] and they still can't make enough of their high-end AI chips. They continue to have extremely high demand for it, and they're still capacity constrained,' he said. Tesla, even with its recent decline, is still trading at 150 times forward earnings, while Nvidia sits at around 32 times, but is growing earnings, Black said. 'If you look at price-to-earnings relative to growth, which is how we think about the world, in a simplistic way, it's still reasonably cheap.' Meta META is also a big position. 'We like the growth we're seeing in Instagram and Facebook and WhatsApp. Again, the stock has done well, but it's still a very cheap stock,' trading at about 27 times earnings, he said. Then there's AMZN, and its vastly expanded offerings. 'You can buy prescription drugs over it now. You can buy tires, you can buy cars. It's become the go-to place if you want to buy anything,' and at around 35 times forward earnings, is now far less expensive, he said. He also flags DoorDash DASH. 'People don't have the time to make their own food anymore, so they order from the restaurants they love and [DoorDash] has gotten more and more restaurants on the platform, and as a result of that, the stock has done extremely well,' he said. Like Nvidia, DoorDash is reasonably priced, trading at 54 times forward earning, he said. His short bets in the Long/Short ETF, are about either poorly positioned companies or companies facing disruption. Those include Booking Holdings BKNG, which is in a 'very competitive business,' he said. 'We don't really see the proprietary technology to allow that to continue to gain share, so we decided that was a good short.' Fintech group Sofi Technologies SOFI is another. 'They've expanded their loans. and we just worry that they've grown too fast. and that's why it's a decent short we believe.' As the S&P 500 SPX continues to push past 6,000, Black says he's still bullish on the market overall, with expectations the Fed will likely to start cutting interest rates, though not as fast as Trump would like. 'I think what has happened because of the tariffs, the odds are you are going to have a first rate cut by September now,' he said. What else worries Black? He points to concerning 'pockets' of the market currently, such as the blockbuster Circle CRCL IPO, of which they didn't take part. 'We have stocks that are trading at very high multiples that aren't related to their earnings growth. We're always wary, especially in the growth space, that you've got speculative excess, and I think there are areas where people are just getting overly exuberant about prospects. And that's always negative,' said Black. Read: 'Big Money' turns bullish on stocks. Will that lead the S&P 500 to a 'melt up'? U.S. stocks SPX DJIA COMP are inching higher, while Treasury yields BX:TMUBMUSD10Y BX:TMUBMUSD02Y drop. Key asset performance Last 5d 1m YTD 1y S&P 500 6005.88 1.18% 2.77% 2.11% 12.03% Nasdaq Composite 19,591.24 1.81% 4.72% 1.45% 13.95% 10-year Treasury 4.456 -1.40 -1.70 -12.00 5.10 Gold 3349.9 -0.80% 2.93% 26.92% 43.53% Oil 65.56 3.50% 3.03% -8.78% -16.14% Data: MarketWatch. Treasury yields change expressed in basis points Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern. Trade talks between the U.S. and China continue in London on Tuesday. Tesla shares TSLA are tracking Monday's gains after more signs of a cooling feud between Musk and President Trump. J.M. Smucker stock SJM is down 7% after mixed results and a weak profit forecast from the food maker. Uber UBER said it's going to pilot self-driving cars in London. Tencent Music TME is reportedly buying China audio platform Ximalaya for $1.26 billion. The shares are rising. GameStop GME reports results after the close, and this analyst isn't that upbeat. A small-business optimism index was slightly more upbeat for May, with those expecting better business conditions at a historical high. Gold and the S&P 500 are chasing record highs at the same time. Here's why that's so rare. The White House marching orders that sparked the L.A. migrant crackdown. Mark Zuckerberg is handpicking a new 'superintelligence' AI team. Here's more evidence institutional investors are buying stocks again. This State Street risk-appetite index, based on the firm's $44 trillion of assets under custody and administration, shows 'long-term investor allocations to equities rose anew in May to levels last seen on the cusp of the Liberation Day announcement in early April,' said Dwyfor Evans, strategist at State Street Global Markets. While flows to stocks rose, investors continued to shun the dollar and U.S. Treasurys, Evans said. These were the most searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Ticker Security name TSLA Tesla NVDA Nvidia GME GameStop PLTR Palantir Technologies PLUG Plug Power AAPL Apple TSM Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing AMD Advanced Micro Devices KLTO Klotho Neurosciences AMZN Amazon No joke. Comedian on why planes crash. Who you gonna call? Frustrated couple 'steal back' their own Jaguar. 'The situation is extreme': I'm 65 and leaving my estate to only one grandchild. Can the others contest my will? 'I prepaid our mom's rent for a year': My sister is a millionaire and never helps our mother. How do I cut her out of her will? I bought my mother-in-law a condo — and she took out a $30,000 car loan. Now she refuses to get a roommate. How do I make sure my son-in-law doesn't get his hands on my daughter's inheritance? My life partner is 18 years my senior. He wants to leave his $4.5 million fortune to me — not his two kids. Do we tell them? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and shelves empty

With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and and empty shelves

Fund manager who sold Tesla, just in time, says investors are overlooking these tech bargains

Exclusive: Ex-Netflix communication chief joins AI startup Sierra

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Try Our AI Features

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With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and shelves empty

With retail cyberattacks on the rise, customers find orders blocked and and empty shelves

Fund manager who sold Tesla, just in time, says investors are overlooking these tech bargains

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