Local clothing brand Our Second Nature hit by data breach; customer details exposed

SINGAPORE – Customers of local clothing brand Our Second Nature may have had their personal data exposed after an unauthorised third party breached the company’s backend sales records.

In an e-mail sent to customers on Nov 8 and seen by The Straits Times, the label – which has at least 110,000 followers on Instagram and was founded by Love, Bonito co-founder Velda Tan – said it discovered the “data security incident” on Nov 6.

According to the e-mail, compromised information may include customers’ names, e-mail addresses, contact numbers, dates of birth, delivery addresses and purchase-related information.

Credit card details were not compromised as the company does not store them on its systems, Our Second Nature said.

The retailer said it took immediate steps to block further unauthorised access, tightened system security and launched an investigation into the incident while taking the necessary steps to fulfil its obligations under Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act.

“We are truly sorry that this happened. We understand how unsettling it may be to learn that personal information entrusted to us has been accessed without authorisation,” the company said, urging customers to guard against phishing attempts and to secure their online accounts with unique passwords and two-factor authentication.

The incident adds to a string of data breaches hitting organisations in Singapore, with the Agency for Integrated Care, Fullerton Health, Minmed, telco M1 and SPH Media recently also reporting security incidents.

The spate of data security incidents coincides with major cyberstrikes across Europe that have crippled cold-chain infrastructure for blood banks and supermarkets, a trend driven by artificial intelligence accelerating the discovery of system vulnerabilities.