A mammoth customer data breach is inevitable, fear members of Asda’s technology function, after the supermarket culled its chief information security officer and chief data protection officer as part of swingeing head office job cuts last week.
A senior Asda technology function source told The Grocer that “Asda will get a massive data breach and we all know it” after the supermarket’s security leadership and teams were depleted in the move.
It is understood Asda CISO Simon Langley, its chief data protection officer Amy Travis, and the supermarket’s head of security operations Lianne Potter have all been let go.
An Asda spokesman said that each of the roles are “currently held by experienced colleagues and the changes announced last week will provide more clear roles and responsibilities as well as direct reporting lines for both our head office teams and our stores”.
“We have a dedicated function who work hard to ensure that our internal systems and data that we hold remain secure in the face of cyber-security challenges faced by all businesses,” the spokesman added.
In a digital and technology team ‘town hall’ event last Thursday – a recording of which has been viewed by The Grocer – a question was put to Asda chief digital officer Matt Kelleher, asking what sort of message the cuts “send externally for a company that processes so much personal information, both customer and colleague” to cybercriminals around the world, and whether it would “impact trust” with consumers.
Kelleher responded that regarding cybersecurity, “we need to be firmly on the ramparts, looking over the hills”, and that the supermarket took investment in security “very, very seriously”.
He added that the security team remained “very capable” and would be led well by Asda’s new security chief, named as Mike Amos, promoted from the supermarket’s enterprise architecture team. Kelleher said Amos “might be a geek” but was a “trusted individual”.
“We have made a leadership decision,” Kelleher said.
The source told The Grocer that prior to Asda’s split from Walmart in 2021, the security function was “only really trusted to package up information to send to Walmart for a decision”, and that since the split the supermarket had “not built anything that you would ever consider a functioning security team”.
Asda interim boss Stuart Rose last week announced major jobs cuts and a restructure affecting thousands of head office staff, which will see management office roles slashed by 475, with remaining staff ordered to return to the office three days a week.
The move comes as the former M&S boss attempts to lead a turnaround strategy at the supermarket after owner Mohsin Issa stepped back from day-to-day control of the business in September. A note to staff said Asda would be moving to a new, less top-heavy management structure, which would enable investment to be focused on stores.
“It was very important to us to be able to move forward quickly, given our priorities; the need to regain our competitiveness; and the rest of teams around the business moving to new ways of working,” Kelleher told technology team staff. “And that’s the decision we made and that’s why we did what we did.”
