According to Staples Inc., around 1.2 million customer payment cards may have been exposed because of a security breach that occurred earlier this year.
The retailer said a couple of months ago that it was going to be investigating a credit card breach after a number of other retailers were subject to huge cyberattacks.
The investigation into the matter found that a group of hackers may have used malware to access information and facts for transaction at 115 of its American stores.
The sensitive information that these criminals were able to get their hands on include cardholder names, card verification codes, payment card numbers, and card expiration dates.
Customer who may be at danger have been offered a free of charge identity protection solution, credit monitoring, identity theft insurance coverage, as well as a free credit report.
The attacks affected different retailers between the months of July and September 2014.
Fraudulent card use at its New York stores
The company also said that it received reports of fraudulent card activity linked to four of its shops in New York between April and September. Staples has not seen evidence of malware at these stores, but it said it will also offer the same protection solutions to customers there as well.
Retail security breaches have sent chills down the spines of US consumers
This year has sent chills down the spines of American consumers, as the number of security breaches at large US retail corporations has caused millions of people to be concerned about the security of personal information.
Many have questioned the security of these large corporation’s networks as well as the way in which they have handled the attacks.
The data breach at Home Depot Inc. in September was the largest ever in the history of the retail business globally, beating last year’s 40 million at Target Corp. in 2013, and 45.6 million at TJX Companies Inc. in 2007.
Although data breaches can damage a retailer’s reputation, it is imperative that they be as transparent as possible, according to experts. Hiding what happens is likely to scare customers away even more and irreparably damage their reputation.
