According to the insurance company Allianz politically motivated violence has been a growing concern for businesses over the past three years and cyber breaches are one way political violence-based activity can impact businesses.
The firm’s recent Political Violence and Civil Unrest Trends 2025 report identified a trend: “new tech versus old tech” has now boosted the threat of state-triggered disruption, alongside increased global reliance on technology coupled with ongoing geopolitical instability.
This means that addressing vulnerable areas in technology systems will become even more important for businesses.
LVMH’s Dior: the latest cyber attack victim
LVMH’s Dior brand is the latest high-profile brand to be attacked.
On Wednesday 14 May the company said that cyber attackers had stolen customer data but insisted that no financial information was involved.
Dior released a statement saying it “recently discovered that an unauthorised third party accessed certain customer data we hold,” after the French newspaper Le Monde said some of its clients in Asia alerted them to the information theft, which was said to have happened in January.
Dior said its teams were being “assisted by leading cybersecurity experts” and were “continuing their investigation and response to this incident.”
It added that it was “informing affected customers and all relevant regulatory authorities.”
Marks & Spencer and Harrods both recently targeted
Cyber criminals have increasingly targeted other European brands and retailers in recent months, with many of these based in the UK.
The well-known retailer Marks & Spencer recently said it had personal data of customers stolen in a cyberattack that disrupted its online services for three weeks.
Marks & Spencer was reported to have been the victim of a ransomware attack, where criminals encrypt the company’s computer system and demand payment for normal service to resume.
“Importantly, the data does not include useable payment or card details, which we do not hold on our systems, and it does not include any account passwords,” Marks & Spencer said in its statement, adding that “there is no evidence that this data has been shared.”
In early May, the luxury department store Harrods told the BBC it had “restricted internet access at our sites” following an attempt to gain access to its systems.
“Our seasoned IT security team immediately took proactive steps to keep systems safe and as a result we have restricted internet access at our sites today,” stated the company.
Mitigate the vulnerability
A National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) spokesperson told UK channel Sky News it was actively monitoring for UK impact “following reports of a critical vulnerability affecting (software stack) SAP NetWeaver being actively exploited.”
The spokesperson said that the NCSC “strongly encourages organisations to follow vendor best practice to mitigate the vulnerability and potential malicious activity.”
“Vulnerabilities are a common aspect of cyber security, and all organisations must consider how to most effectively manage potential security issues,” they said.
