Shop ‘n Save suffers data breach
Late Thursday night, the parent of Shop ‘n Save, which has 45 stores in Missouri and Illinois, revealed that its computer network was breached this summer.
Minnesota-based Supervalu said the network break-in took place between June 22 and July 17, involving 180 Supervalu stores and liquor stores in as many as five states. Besides Shop ‘n Save, other store brands affected by the breach included Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher’s, and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy. Data may also have been stolen from 29 franchised Cub Foods stores and liquor stores.
Hackers gained access to account numbers, expiration dates, cardholders’ names and other information, the company said.
“We took immediate action to secure the network,” said Jeff Swanson, a Supervalu spokesman. “We believe the intrusion has been contained.”
It is unclear how many customers have been affected by the breach, he said. The other states involved were Maryland, Virginia and Minnesota.
The company has a list of affected stores on its website, www.supervalu.com. The list includes all of Kirkwood-based Shop ‘n Save’s local stores. The chain, which only operates in the St. Louis area, has 29 stores on the Missouri side of the region and 16 in Metro East.
Supervalu, which operates or licenses more than 3,400 stores in the U.S., said it believes the data breach did not impact its owned or licensed stores of Save-A-Lot, which is based in Earth City.
Swanson said the company is unaware of any fraudulent activity involving customers’ cards. But people who shopped at any store on the company’s list during the breach are urged to look for suspicious charges on their statements. Supervalu also is setting up a call centre (855-731-6018) to help customers with questions. The call centre will open at 8 a.m. Monday.
Investigators are working to determine how the breach occurred.
Shop ‘n Save is not the first local company to suffer this fate.
Schnuck Markets experienced a massive data breach that started in the winter of 2012. The incident exposed an estimated 2.4 million credit and debit cards and spawned a series of legal challenges for the Maryland Heights-based firm.
The company recently agreed to a $2.1 million settlement of a class action lawsuit. The deal, which still needs final court approval, would pay affected customers for a variety of inconveniences.
Other major retailers across the nation also have been hit, prompting calls for changes in the way credit card data are secured.
This month, Target said that expenses tied to a breach leading up to last year’s holiday shopping season could reach as high as $148 million. The incident led to a major shakeup, and CEO Gregg Steinhafel resigned.
Restaurant operator P.F. Chang’s confirmed in June that data from credit and debit cards used at its restaurants, which included locations in Chesterfield and Richmond Heights, were stolen.
There have been smaller breaches at Neiman Marcus and Michaels Stores Inc., and even at Goodwill.
source: stltoday.com
