SUPERVALU (SVU) Reports Another Data Breach
Grocery retailer SUPERVALU Inc. (SVU) reported a second data breach incident at its Albertson stores closely following a similar incident in late July when its customer payment system was hacked.
Per management, a criminal intrusion in the company’s computer network was detected which may have led to the loss of some cardholder data from payment cards used at its Shop ’n Save, Shoppers Food & Pharmacy and Cub Foods owned and franchised stores, including some of its standalone liquor stores. The company suspects that a malware was installed on its network in late August or early September.
SUPERVALU reported a similar incident in July, when hackers installed a different malware to steal customers’ data from payment cards used between Jun 22 and Jul 17.
SUPERVALU, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), enhanced its security system after the July incident, which helped it to eradicate the malware immediately and secure the affected part of its network. The recently installed malware, however, did not affect the Farm Fresh or Hornbacher’s stores, its owned or licensed Save-A-Lot stores or the independent grocery stores supplied by the company through its Independent Business network.
It is noted that the U.S. remains vulnerable to such credit card thefts with a flawed card payment system. Unlike Europe and Canada, credit cards in the U.S. use a magnetic strip to store data, making it quite simple to obtain data with the sophisticated hacking technology. Outside the U.S., cards have digital chips that store data, which generate a new code after every use thereby making them difficult to hack.
The biggest security breach in the U.S. history was detected in 2007 when the leading off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions, The TJX Companies, Inc. (TJX) reported data theft involving nearly 90 million credit and debit cards over a span of about one and a half years. Since then, companies like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Target Corp. (TGT) are spending substantial cash to tighten security.
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