Cyber Incident Victim: Createthe Group
Date:
Mar 2014
Location:
United States of America
Summary
Createthe Group, a digital luxury agency providing e-commerce solutions to high-profile fashion brands, experienced a security breach potentially compromising its servers during a system review. The company notified affected clients and engaged a PCI Forensic Investigator to assess the incident. In response, the firm initiated retirement of its core CTS platform and exited the e-commerce business entirely, despite this technology being central to its operations. The breach impacted multiple luxury, fashion, and retail clients served by the agency's commerce platform and integrated services.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
In March 2014, New York and London-based digital luxury agency Createthe Group initiated an investigation into a suspected security breach impacting several of its luxury, fashion, and retail clients. The company, known for providing e-commerce platform services to high-profile brands including Belstaff, Marc Jacobs, and Oscar de la Renta, identified potential server compromises during an internal systems review. Createthe Group promptly notified affected clients about the incident and engaged a PCI Forensic Investigator company to determine whether its platforms had experienced a security breach. Concurrently with the investigation, the agency announced plans to retire its proprietary CTS e-commerce platform—a technology central to its founding mission of integrating enterprise-level platforms with digital commerce implementations. This decision marked Createthe Group’s complete exit from the e-commerce platform business despite the segment’s historical significance to its operations and market positioning.
The incident’s operational impact extended beyond immediate forensic activities, triggering a strategic withdrawal from a core business segment. Createthe Group’s public statement emphasized continuity in its remaining service offerings, which included brand strategy, design, content development, and marketing for clients such as Burberry, Alexander Wang, Nowness, H&M, Tom Ford, and Calvin Klein. No specific details regarding the breach’s technical scope, attacker origins, data exposure, or forensic findings were disclosed publicly. The company’s response focused on client notification, third-party forensic review, and platform decommissioning as primary containment measures, without elaborating on long-term security enhancements or regulatory repercussions. Client communications and business restructuring constituted the primary documented consequences of the investigation.