Kmart latest to be hacked
Posted by: Jon Ben-Mayor on 10/11/2014 03:34 AM
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Kmart is the latest retail store to be hit by hackers. The retailer quietly issued a statement on late on Friday confirming that their payment systems were compromised throughout September and early October. No word on how many customers were affected by the breach at this time.
Sears Holding Corp. said Friday the payment systems at its Kmart retail chain had been breached as a result of malware, compromising shoppers’ credit and debit card numbers.
Sears did not have enough information to say roughly how many credit and debit card numbers were compromised, a spokesman said in an interview, according to PCWorld.
The company is recommending that customers who have shopped with a credit or debit card at any Kmart store between September and Thursday of this week check their account statements.
Kmart President and Chief Member Officer, Alasdair James, penned the following letter:
To Our Members,
I am reaching out to inform our loyal Kmart customers of a recent payment security incident. On Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014 our IT team detected that our Kmart store payment data system had been breached and immediately launched a full investigation working with a leading IT security firm. The security experts report that beginning in early September, the payment data systems at Kmart stores were purposely infected with a new form of malware (similar to a computer virus). This resulted in debit and credit card numbers being compromised.
Based on the forensic investigation to date, no personal information, no debit card PIN numbers, no email addresses and no social security numbers were obtained by those criminally responsible. There is also no evidence that kmart.com customers were impacted. This data breach has been contained and the malware has been removed. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our members and customers.
It’s important to note that the policies of the credit card companies state that customers have zero liability for any unauthorized charges if they report them in a timely manner.
The privacy and security of our customers’ information is of utmost importance to us, and we are committed to doing everything we can to safeguard our customers’ information in the face of a recent surge of data attacks. To further protect our members and customers who shopped with a credit or debit card in our Kmart stores during the month of September through yesterday (Oct. 9, 2014), Kmart will be offering free credit monitoring protection.
Given the criminal nature of this attack, Kmart is working closely with federal law enforcement authorities, our banking partners as well as security experts in this ongoing investigation.
I want our customers to be aware of the situation and I suggest that customers carefully review and monitor their credit and debit card account statements. If customers see any sign of suspicious activity, they should immediately contact their card issuer. More guidance is also available on our website, kmart.com and customers can contact our customer care center at 888-488-5978.
Sincerely,
Alasdair
Alasdair James
President and Chief Member Officer
Kmart
Sears Holding Corp. said Friday the payment systems at its Kmart retail chain had been breached as a result of malware, compromising shoppers’ credit and debit card numbers.Sears did not have enough information to say roughly how many credit and debit card numbers were compromised, a spokesman said in an interview, according to PCWorld.
The company is recommending that customers who have shopped with a credit or debit card at any Kmart store between September and Thursday of this week check their account statements.
Kmart President and Chief Member Officer, Alasdair James, penned the following letter:
To Our Members,
I am reaching out to inform our loyal Kmart customers of a recent payment security incident. On Thursday, Oct. 9, 2014 our IT team detected that our Kmart store payment data system had been breached and immediately launched a full investigation working with a leading IT security firm. The security experts report that beginning in early September, the payment data systems at Kmart stores were purposely infected with a new form of malware (similar to a computer virus). This resulted in debit and credit card numbers being compromised.
Based on the forensic investigation to date, no personal information, no debit card PIN numbers, no email addresses and no social security numbers were obtained by those criminally responsible. There is also no evidence that kmart.com customers were impacted. This data breach has been contained and the malware has been removed. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our members and customers.
It’s important to note that the policies of the credit card companies state that customers have zero liability for any unauthorized charges if they report them in a timely manner.
The privacy and security of our customers’ information is of utmost importance to us, and we are committed to doing everything we can to safeguard our customers’ information in the face of a recent surge of data attacks. To further protect our members and customers who shopped with a credit or debit card in our Kmart stores during the month of September through yesterday (Oct. 9, 2014), Kmart will be offering free credit monitoring protection.
Given the criminal nature of this attack, Kmart is working closely with federal law enforcement authorities, our banking partners as well as security experts in this ongoing investigation.
I want our customers to be aware of the situation and I suggest that customers carefully review and monitor their credit and debit card account statements. If customers see any sign of suspicious activity, they should immediately contact their card issuer. More guidance is also available on our website, kmart.com and customers can contact our customer care center at 888-488-5978.
Sincerely,
Alasdair
Alasdair James
President and Chief Member Officer
Kmart
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