Adidas suspends websites following ‘sophisticated’ cyber attack

By Trevor Mogg November 7, 2011

Sportswear giant Adidas has suffered what it described as “a sophisticated, criminal cyber-attack.”

It learned of the attack on Thursday last week although following a preliminary investigation it believes no personal data belonging to consumers has been stolen.

Recommended Videos

A statement released by the German company on Sunday said it had taken down several of the affected sites, including adidas.com, reebok.com, miCoach.com, adidas-group.com, while it continues with its investigation.

Adidas also said that as soon as it discovered the cyber-attack, it implemented a number of measures to bolster security.

“Nothing is more important to us than the privacy and security of our consumers’ personal data. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this time,” the statement said.

At the time of writing, the adidas.com and miCoach.com websites were both still down, although information about the situation had been posted. “At this stage we are targeting to have the site up and running again by the end of day (US Eastern Time) Tuesday 8th November,” the miCoach.com website said. The adidas.com site pointed users to its e-commerces sites, though no doubt many online shoppers will be keen to hear more details about the recent security breach before giving their credit card details to the sportswear company.

At this stage there is still little information regarding the precise nature of the attack or who might be responsible.

The incident comes in a year that has seen many high profile online security breaches, including those suffered by Sony, Citibank and the Pentagon.

Topics

Cybersecurity

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Computing

How to change margins in Google Docs

Laptop Working from Home

When you create a document in Google Docs, you may need to adjust the space between the edge of the page and the content --- the margins. For instance, many professors have requirements for the margin sizes you must use for college papers.

You can easily change the left, right, top, and bottom margins in Google Docs and have a few different ways to do it.

Computing

What is Microsoft Teams? How to use the collaboration app

A close-up of someone using Microsoft Teams on a laptop for a videoconference.

Online team collaboration is the new norm as companies spread their workforce across the globe. Gone are the days of primarily relying on group emails, as teams can now work together in real time using an instant chat-style interface, no matter where they are.

Using Microsoft Teams affords video conferencing, real-time discussions, document sharing and editing, and more for companies and corporations. It's one of many collaboration tools designed to bring company workers together in an online space. It’s not designed for communicating with family and friends, but for colleagues and clients.

Computing

Microsoft Word vs. Google Docs

A person using a laptop that displays various Microsoft Office apps.

For the last few decades, Microsoft Word has been the de facto standard for word processors across the working world. That's finally starting to shift, and it looks like one of Google's productivity apps is the heir apparent. The company's Google Docs solution (or to be specific, the integrated word processor) is cross-platform and interoperable, automatically syncs, is easily shareable, and perhaps best of all, is free.

However, using Google Docs proves it still has a long way to go before it can match all of Word's features -- Microsoft has been developing its word processor for over 30 years, after all, and millions still use Microsoft Word. Will Google Docs' low barrier to entry and cross-platform functionality win out? Let's break down each word processor in terms of features and capabilities to help you determine which is best for your needs.
How does each word processing program compare?
To put it lightly, Microsoft Word has an incredible advantage over Google Docs in terms of raw technical capability. From relatively humble beginnings in the 1980s, Microsoft has added new tools and options in each successive version. Most of the essential editing tools are available in Google Docs, but users who are used to Word will find it limited.