Hanes is an international clothing company. Founded in 1901 as Shamrock Knitting Mills, the name changed to Hanes after the founder, John Wesley Hanes.
The breach was to Hanes’ internal systems, reaching the information of nearly 59,000 people. The investigation took almost three months. Hanes only began to send out notifications on August 16th, 2022.
The breach was a ransomware attack; it is unknown exactly how long the hacker was in the system, but the hack was only discovered on May 24th. Hanes immediately contacted law enforcement and secured its servers, hiring a third-party firm to investigate the breach.
This breach occurred on May 24th, 2022.
The breach only affects the employees of HanesBrands. This may seem like a relief to consumers, but one must remember that Hanes employs over 65,000 people internationally. If the authorities can prove that the breach is the fault of Hanes, the employees will be able to sue the company for the damages.
The breach has affected most of the company's employment files. This means that the names, addresses, passport information, social security numbers, emails, phone numbers, and certain medical information were all available to the hacker during the time that they were in the system. This information is now accessible to the hacker, meaning they can sell the information or use it themselves to steal the employees' identities.