Credit card details of thousands of customers of Cotton Traders were stolen following a hack of the clothing firm's website.

Cotton Traders, set up by two ex-England rugby players, confirmed that it was the victim of a hack last January but has refused to reveal the size of the breach.

A spokeswoman for Cotton Traders told Web User that the figure of 38,000 customers, as reported by the BBC, was "way off the mark", but declined to state the exact number of customers who had their credit card details stolen.

Cotton Traders took immediate action on learning of the attack and contacted Barclaycard.

A specialist police force is investigating the attack according to Apacs, the body that represents the trade association for the payment industry.

The Cotton Traders' spokeswoman said the firm has recently upgraded all security on its website which has been validated by leading industry experts.

The breach has reignited concerns about the security of online shopping.

Jamie King, director of IDT Finance, said that research showed that 56 per cent of consumers were put off buying online, because they are afraid of online fraud.

Martin Ott, managing director of Moneybookers, an online payment firm, said: "The battle against cybercriminals is never-ending and this latest breach shows that online retailers are still struggling to keep their customer data secure."

Cotton Traders was founded in 1987 by former England rugby captains Fran Cotton and Steve Smith and it has more than two million customers on its database.

www.cottontraders.co.uk
www.moneybookers.com
www.ift.com

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