Woolworths has improved the cybersecurity measures for its recent acquisition MyDeal after a cyberattack in late 2022.

The October hack saw the personal data of MyDeal’s 2.2 million user base “compromised”, with email addresses of over a million users stolen, with names, phone numbers, delivery addresses, and birthdays of others also exposed.

Woolworths chief security officer Pieter van der Merwe told The Australian Financial Review at the time the retail giant was aware when it bought the business in May that cybersecurity needed to be improved.

“This due diligence is undertaken by our internal IT experts in conjunction with our external advisers,” he said of the discovery, prior to making the deal.

“With MyDeal, we identified areas for investment in the IT space during due diligence and the MyDeal team had started implementing these.

“Our IT due diligence work focuses on the operational resilience of the business’ technology environment, which typically includes elements of operations stability, disaster recovery, development practices, and cybersecurity.”

Now, a Woolworths spokesperson has confirmed that it has improved security, and is in the process of hiring a new information security manager for MyDeal. Despite the millions of shoppers impacted directly, Woolworths is yet to see any fall out from the cyberattack.

“We’re pleased with the performance of MyDeal with gross transaction value and customer numbers steady compared to the same time last year,” a spokesman told AFR.

“There’s been no major shift in active customers or loss of email subscribers following October’s cyber incident.

“MyDeal joined the Everyday Rewards program in January and since then, we’ve seen thousands of members shop with MyDeal for the first time with millions of points earned and redeemed.”

Woolworths has worked quickly to align MyDeal’s shaky security with that of the rest of the Group.

“This includes a full review of the cybersecurity capabilities, processes and data handling practices with improvements being introduced as a result,” the spokesman said.

um-sized businesses.