Supermarket chain Auchan hit with cyberattack, again

The French supermarket chain Auchan has been hit by a cyberattack, compromising data from loyalty accounts of hundreds of thousands of customers.

In a letter addressed to affected customers, the company says the attack resulted in unauthorized access to personal data associated with loyalty accounts. The data includes full names, email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers, loyalty card numbers, and professional customer statuses.

In an attempt to reassure customers impacted by the data breach, Auchan assures that banking information, passwords, and PINs have not been affected. A company spokesperson told French news agency AFP that “a few hundred thousand” customers are affected by the data breach.

“The protection of our customers’ data is a top priority for us, and we are handling this incident with the utmost rigor. All necessary measures were immediately taken to stop this attack and strengthen the protection of our information systems,” the company said in the data breach notification.

The incident has been reported to the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), the French data protection authority.

Auchan encourages affected customers to remain vigilant for fraudulent activities such as identity fraud, phishing messages, and fraudulent calls.

“We remind you that Auchan will never ask you (whether by email, text message, or phone) for your login details, passwords, or loyalty card PIN. If you receive a message of this type, do not click on any links, do not call the number provided, and disregard any information it contains, as it is likely a phishing message,” the company advises.

This isn’t the first time Auchan has had to deal with a cyberattack. A similar incident occurred in November 2024, when hackers managed to steal the personal data of more than half a million customers with loyalty accounts.