Hackers claim to have details of 20,000 Superdrug customers

Health and beauty retailer Superdrug is being held to ransom by hackers who claim to have stolen the data of 20,000 customers.

The hackers have asked for a ransom of 2 bitcoin which is worth about $14,337 at current rates.

The firm, which is part of the A.S Watson Group, sent out an email to customers advising them to change their password details and said that so far the security of 386 accounts had been compromised. Superdrug contacted the affected people directly in order to provide further instructions.

According to Superdrug, the hackers contacted the group on Monday evening and had shared customer details with the group to prove they had the customer information in their posession.

The company said the stolen data did not include credit card details, although the hackers could have accessed email addresses and passwords from other websites.

Superdrug also contacted the police and Action Fraud and said they will provide all the information required to conduct an investigation.

Cyber attack is on the rise in the UK with Dixons Carphone saying in June it had been the victim of a major attack for the second time in three years after discovering unauthorized accesses to its card payment data.