Adidas Confirms Data Breach of Customer Information

Sportswear company Adidas has admitted to a customer data breach by hackers through a third-party provider. The stolen data involved contact details of consumers who had previously communicated with the company’s customer support center.

“Adidas recently became aware that an unauthorized external party obtained certain consumer data through a third-party customer service provider,” the company stated. “We immediately took steps to contain the incident and launched a comprehensive investigation, collaborating with leading information security experts.”

None of the data included passwords or payment information, such as credit card numbers. Adidas is currently contacting affected customers. It is also working with law enforcement as an investigation into the data breach is underway.

Reportedly, Adidas was hit by data breaches in South Korea and Türkiye on top of the one just recently announced. Although no financial information was obtained, customers’ names, birthdates, phone numbers, gender details, and email addresses were exposed, according to CyberDaily. It is not known if all these data breach cases are connected.

Data Breaches Often Involve Third Parties

 A 2025 data breach investigation conducted by Verizon, obtained by PYMNTS, found just under one-third of stolen data incidents involve a third party. Suppliers, IT support providers, and other partners often store and have access to confidential information of an organization. These third parties become targets for nefarious cybercriminals.

“When you are working with a third party, you have to consider their security limitations as well as your own,” Verizon’s report stated.

Third-party breaches have involved major companies besides Adidas. AT&T was fined $13 million for a data breach related to a third-party vendor. The communications company shared customer information with a vendor for marketing purposes. Under its contract with AT&T, the vendor was supposed to delete the consumer data, but failed to do so, which hackers were later able to obtain.

Advanced Auto Parts and Ticketmaster owner LiveNation have also been subject to third-party data hacks, which were the two biggest data compromises last year. These major companies are just examples of how crucial it is to keep cybersecurity protocols updated and maintained as well as the importance of investing in the latest technology to block such attacks.

“There’s no way around it other than blocking and tackling, doing the right thing every day, keeping all your systems up to date, making sure you’re working with good vendors and investing in it,” workflow automation company XiFin CFO Erik Sallee told PYMNTS.