Ardene says cyber incident hit internal systems as Akira claims data theft
Canadian fashion retailer Ardene told customers on Feb. 9 that it had identified and responded to a cyber incident affecting some internal systems about two weeks earlier, after shoppers ran into shipping delays and problems with its rewards program and gift cards.
Ardene runs more than 300 stores in Canada, the United States and other markets. A retail outage that reaches loyalty and gift-card systems affects customers directly, and a ransomware gang's claim of stolen employee and customer documents raises questions the company has yet to answer.
What happened
In an email to customers, Ardene said "immediate action was taken to contain the issue, secure the environment and implement precautionary measures," and that its teams were working to fully restore all services, CP24 reported. The company apologized for shipping delays and what it called temporary inconsistencies with Ardene Rewards and gift cards, and said shipping times were back to normal. It said its investigation was continuing and that it was not aware of any customer data being compromised at that time.
Days later, the Akira ransomware group added Ardene to its leak site and claimed to have stolen 58 GB of data, Comparitech reported. Akira claims the material includes financial records such as audits, payment details and invoices, customer and employee information including passports and driver's licences, and confidential corporate files. Ardene has not confirmed the claim or said whether a ransom was demanded or paid. Asked about the claim, the company referred Comparitech to its earlier statement.
Akira has been one of the most active ransomware operations since it appeared in 2023. Comparitech counted 769 Akira attacks in 2025, of which 94 were confirmed by the victims.
What we don't know yet
Ardene has not said whether its systems were encrypted, how the attackers got in or whether employee or customer personal information was taken.
What to do
- Ardene customers should watch their rewards balances and gift cards for discrepancies and contact the retailer if anything looks wrong.
- Current and former employees should watch for a direct notice and be alert to identity fraud if they supplied ID documents.
- Be cautious of emails offering Ardene refunds, rewards or gift cards that ask you to sign in or pay.
