Kmart which is a chain of discount department stores has been the latest company to disclose that they have suffered a data breach which has compromised customers’ credit and debit card information.
Cyber-thieves managed to infect cash registers at 1,200 Kmart stores with malware which collected the debit and credit card details. It has been reported that the malware remained undetected for over a month and was discovered on the 9th October.
In a statement that was released by Alasdair James who is the President and Chief Member Officer, it was confirmed that they have launched a full investigation and that confidential data has been compromised.
James stated, “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.”
Alasdair James also stated that the initial investigation has revealed that no personal information such as social security numbers or PIN numbers has been compromised and that the malware has been contained and removed.
James added, “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.”
In an attempt to help protect and appease the affected customers, Kmart are offering free credit monitoring protection for the affected customers to ensure that any fraudulent use of their cards doesn’t affect their credit score.
Kmart have become the latest American company to have suffered a data breach which has resulted in confidential data being compromised. Other companies such as Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase have also been successfully targeted by cyber-thieves in recent times which shows the importance to remain proactive when it comes to security of systems and data.
