Dutch printing company Simian confirms data breach affecting over 500,000 customers

Simian, a Groningen-based online printing company that owns the brands Drukland, Reclameland and Flyerzone, has confirmed a data breach originating at a third-party service provider that affected more than 500,000 customers in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The company said attackers gained access to customer usernames, email addresses and hashed passwords. It has not disclosed which hashing algorithm was used to protect the passwords. A limited number of customers also had credit card details compromised in the breach; those individuals were contacted directly by phone and email. Simian has not disclosed the total number of customers affected by the incident.

The breach did not originate within Simian’s own systems but at an outside service provider used by the company. Once the incident was identified, Simian reset passwords for all users, blocked affected accounts, restricted system access further and brought in an external cybersecurity firm to investigate. The company reported the breach to the Dutch data protection authority and filed a report with police, and it said it would take additional measures if warranted as the investigation continues.

Drukland, one of Simian’s subsidiary brands, warned on an incident page that the exposed information could be used by criminals for scams or phishing. Customers were advised to remain alert to phishing attempts, identity fraud, impersonation and social engineering aimed at collecting further personal information.

Simian said the breach is not connected to a separate incident involving logistics firm CEVA Logistics, which affected customer data at companies including Ajax, ING, bol, De Bijenkorf and Ace & Tate earlier the same month. The Simian breach follows a string of data breaches at Dutch companies this year, including the CEVA incident and an earlier breach at telecommunications provider Odido.