Comparison Overview

AS Watson

VS

Marks and Spencer

AS Watson

1-5 Wo Liu Hang Road, Fo Tan, Shatin, Hong Kong, HK
Last Update: 2025-11-20

AS Watson Group, the world’s largest international health and beauty retailer, is operating over 17,000 stores under 12 retail brands in 31 markets, with over 130,000 employees worldwide. For the fiscal year 2024, AS Watson Group recorded revenue of over US$24 billion. Every year, we are serving over 6 billion shoppers via our O+O (Offline plus Online) technology-enabled platforms. Together with our 12 retail brands including Watsons, Kruidvat, Trekpleister, Superdrug, Savers, Rossmann, Drogas, ICI PARIS XL, The Perfume Shop, PARKnSHOP, FORTRESS and Watson’s Wine, we set O+O (Offline Plus Online) as the new standard for retail. O+O is more about creating an integrated offline and online experience to better serve customers’ needs through digital transformation, that enables them to shop across any channel, anytime, anywhere. Every day, we work towards a clear purpose: To put a Smile on our customers’ faces today and tomorrow. Our success depends on our people staying ahead of the game. We believe that our attitude to teamwork and our encouragement for your personal growth comes shining through everything we do. We also know that our success as an employer isn’t just about influencing you on why you should join our business. It’s about asking you to imagine where it could take you.

NAICS: 43
NAICS Definition: Retail Trade
Employees: 16,357
Subsidiaries: 24
12-month incidents
0
Known data breaches
1
Attack type number
1

Marks and Spencer

Waterside House, 35 North Wharf Rd, London, London, GB, W2 1NW
Last Update: 2025-11-27

At M&S, we're dedicated to being the most trusted retailer, prioritising quality and delivering value. Every day, we bring the magic of M&S to our customers, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us. For over a century, we've set the standard, doing the right thing and embracing innovation. Today, with over 65,000 colleagues serving 32 million customers globally, we're putting quality products at the heart of everything we do. Tomorrow holds boundless opportunities with us. We're pioneering digital innovation and shaping the future of retail where our values drive every action. We stay close to customers and colleagues, always curious and connected. Our decisions are bold, our actions ambitious. Transparency is paramount, with straightforward, honest communication. We're constantly innovating, always striving for the best. Our focus is on aiming higher and winning together, combined with wise financial decisions to secure our future. Join us at M&S to shape the future of retail.

NAICS: 43
NAICS Definition: Retail Trade
Employees: 39,274
Subsidiaries: 0
12-month incidents
27
Known data breaches
1
Attack type number
3

Compliance Badges Comparison

Security & Compliance Standards Overview

https://images.rankiteo.com/companyimages/aswatson.jpeg
AS Watson
ISO 27001
ISO 27001 certification not verified
Not verified
SOC2 Type 1
SOC2 Type 1 certification not verified
Not verified
SOC2 Type 2
SOC2 Type 2 certification not verified
Not verified
GDPR
GDPR certification not verified
Not verified
PCI DSS
PCI DSS certification not verified
Not verified
HIPAA
HIPAA certification not verified
Not verified
https://images.rankiteo.com/companyimages/marks-and-spencer.jpeg
Marks and Spencer
ISO 27001
ISO 27001 certification not verified
Not verified
SOC2 Type 1
SOC2 Type 1 certification not verified
Not verified
SOC2 Type 2
SOC2 Type 2 certification not verified
Not verified
GDPR
GDPR certification not verified
Not verified
PCI DSS
PCI DSS certification not verified
Not verified
HIPAA
HIPAA certification not verified
Not verified
Compliance Summary
AS Watson
100%
Compliance Rate
0/4 Standards Verified
Marks and Spencer
0%
Compliance Rate
0/4 Standards Verified

Benchmark & Cyber Underwriting Signals

Incidents vs Retail Industry Average (This Year)

No incidents recorded for AS Watson in 2025.

Incidents vs Retail Industry Average (This Year)

Marks and Spencer has 7614.29% more incidents than the average of same-industry companies with at least one recorded incident.

Incident History — AS Watson (X = Date, Y = Severity)

AS Watson cyber incidents detection timeline including parent company and subsidiaries

Incident History — Marks and Spencer (X = Date, Y = Severity)

Marks and Spencer cyber incidents detection timeline including parent company and subsidiaries

Notable Incidents

Last 3 Security & Risk Events by Company

https://images.rankiteo.com/companyimages/aswatson.jpeg
AS Watson
Incidents

Date Detected: 08/2018
Type:Breach
Attack Vector: Credential Stuffing
Motivation: Data Theft
Blog: Blog
https://images.rankiteo.com/companyimages/marks-and-spencer.jpeg
Marks and Spencer
Incidents

Date Detected: 9/2025
Type:Ransomware
Motivation: financial gain (ransom demand), disruption of operations
Blog: Blog

Date Detected: 9/2025
Type:Ransomware
Attack Vector: SMB (Server Message Block) exploitation, lateral movement via network shares, recruitment of affiliates for branded variants, partnerships with initial access brokers (e.g., Scattered Spider)
Motivation: financial gain, dominance in ransomware ecosystem, recruitment of affiliates, disruption of rival groups
Blog: Blog

Date Detected: 8/2025
Type:Cyber Attack
Attack Vector: AI-driven attacks, Cybercrime-as-a-Service (CaaS), Ransomware, Phishing, Supply Chain Compromise
Motivation: Financial gain, Disruption, Data theft
Blog: Blog

FAQ

AS Watson company demonstrates a stronger AI Cybersecurity Score compared to Marks and Spencer company, reflecting its advanced cybersecurity posture governance and monitoring frameworks.

Marks and Spencer company has faced a higher number of disclosed cyber incidents historically compared to AS Watson company.

In the current year, Marks and Spencer company has reported more cyber incidents than AS Watson company.

Marks and Spencer company has confirmed experiencing a ransomware attack, while AS Watson company has not reported such incidents publicly.

Both Marks and Spencer company and AS Watson company have disclosed experiencing at least one data breach.

Marks and Spencer company has reported targeted cyberattacks, while AS Watson company has not reported such incidents publicly.

Neither AS Watson company nor Marks and Spencer company has reported experiencing or disclosing vulnerabilities publicly.

Neither AS Watson nor Marks and Spencer holds any compliance certifications.

Neither company holds any compliance certifications.

AS Watson company has more subsidiaries worldwide compared to Marks and Spencer company.

Marks and Spencer company employs more people globally than AS Watson company, reflecting its scale as a Retail.

Neither AS Watson nor Marks and Spencer holds SOC 2 Type 1 certification.

Neither AS Watson nor Marks and Spencer holds SOC 2 Type 2 certification.

Neither AS Watson nor Marks and Spencer holds ISO 27001 certification.

Neither AS Watson nor Marks and Spencer holds PCI DSS certification.

Neither AS Watson nor Marks and Spencer holds HIPAA certification.

Neither AS Watson nor Marks and Spencer holds GDPR certification.

Latest Global CVEs (Not Company-Specific)

Description

Angular is a development platform for building mobile and desktop web applications using TypeScript/JavaScript and other languages. Prior to versions 19.2.16, 20.3.14, and 21.0.1, there is a XSRF token leakage via protocol-relative URLs in angular HTTP clients. The vulnerability is a Credential Leak by App Logic that leads to the unauthorized disclosure of the Cross-Site Request Forgery (XSRF) token to an attacker-controlled domain. Angular's HttpClient has a built-in XSRF protection mechanism that works by checking if a request URL starts with a protocol (http:// or https://) to determine if it is cross-origin. If the URL starts with protocol-relative URL (//), it is incorrectly treated as a same-origin request, and the XSRF token is automatically added to the X-XSRF-TOKEN header. This issue has been patched in versions 19.2.16, 20.3.14, and 21.0.1. A workaround for this issue involves avoiding using protocol-relative URLs (URLs starting with //) in HttpClient requests. All backend communication URLs should be hardcoded as relative paths (starting with a single /) or fully qualified, trusted absolute URLs.

Risk Information
cvss4
Base: 7.7
Severity: LOW
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Description

Forge (also called `node-forge`) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. An Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in node-forge versions 1.3.1 and below enables remote, unauthenticated attackers to craft deep ASN.1 structures that trigger unbounded recursive parsing. This leads to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) via stack exhaustion when parsing untrusted DER inputs. This issue has been patched in version 1.3.2.

Risk Information
cvss4
Base: 8.7
Severity: LOW
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Description

Forge (also called `node-forge`) is a native implementation of Transport Layer Security in JavaScript. An Integer Overflow vulnerability in node-forge versions 1.3.1 and below enables remote, unauthenticated attackers to craft ASN.1 structures containing OIDs with oversized arcs. These arcs may be decoded as smaller, trusted OIDs due to 32-bit bitwise truncation, enabling the bypass of downstream OID-based security decisions. This issue has been patched in version 1.3.2.

Risk Information
cvss4
Base: 6.3
Severity: LOW
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Description

Suricata is a network IDS, IPS and NSM engine developed by the OISF (Open Information Security Foundation) and the Suricata community. Prior to versions 7.0.13 and 8.0.2, working with large buffers in Lua scripts can lead to a stack overflow. Users of Lua rules and output scripts may be affected when working with large buffers. This includes a rule passing a large buffer to a Lua script. This issue has been patched in versions 7.0.13 and 8.0.2. A workaround for this issue involves disabling Lua rules and output scripts, or making sure limits, such as stream.depth.reassembly and HTTP response body limits (response-body-limit), are set to less than half the stack size.

Risk Information
cvss3
Base: 7.5
Severity: LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Description

Suricata is a network IDS, IPS and NSM engine developed by the OISF (Open Information Security Foundation) and the Suricata community. In versions from 8.0.0 to before 8.0.2, a NULL dereference can occur when the entropy keyword is used in conjunction with base64_data. This issue has been patched in version 8.0.2. A workaround involves disabling rules that use entropy in conjunction with base64_data.

Risk Information
cvss3
Base: 7.5
Severity: LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H