Kmart the Latest to Suffer Payment System Breach
On Friday Kmart announced that it had been a victim of a payment system breach in their physical stores.
The breach reportedly began in early September and was first discovered on Thursday, October 9th. So far there is no reason to believe that online transactions were included in the breach.
A forensic investigation conducted by a leading IT security firm indicates that only credit card numbers lost in the breach. No personal information, debit card PINs, email addresses, or social security numbers were stolen.
Kmart is reminding its customers that their credit card companies will not hold them liable for any fraudulent transactions resulting from the breach.
Kmart is even offering free credit monitoring protection for anyone who shopped the stores during September up to October 9th. In their statement, Kmart added that “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.”
Kmart will be working with federal law enforcement authorities, banks, and security experts to investigate the breach. Anyone affected by the breach should keep a close eye on their accounts. More information can be found at Kmart.com or by calling Kmart customer service at 888-488-5978.
Kmart is just the latest in a series of data breaches this year. Home Depot, one of the largest retailers in the U.S., just last month reported an enormous breach that leaked the data for over 56 million credit cards.