Thieves Steal 4.2 Million Credit And Debit Card Numbers From ... - InformationWeek

Thieves stole an estimated 4.2 million recognition and debit entry card Numbers from the Scarborough, Maine-based Hannaford Bros. and Sweetbay supermarket chains, Hannaford Bros. Co. said on Monday.

In a posted on the company Web site, Hannaford Bros. chief executive officer Bokkos Hodge said that the information invasion had been contained and that name calling and computer addresses were not accessed because the company makes not hive away personally identifiable client information with dealing data.

As a consequence, the company said it is not able to advise potentially affected customers. The company said it is working with recognition and debit entry card issuers to find the impact of the purloined data.

"We sincerely repent this invasion into our systems, which we believe, are among the strongest in the industry," said Hodge. "The purloined information was limited to recognition and debit entry card Numbers and termination dates, and was illegally accessed from our computing machine systems during transmittal of card authorization."

The usage of the word "transmission" in Hodge's statement proposes that information may have got been intercepted while being transmitted through a radio system. The Wall Street Journal, citing an nameless source, that research workers are looking at Hannaford's radio system as a possible point of access.

As many as 1,800 lawsuits of fraud have got been linked to the information theft, according to the Associated Press.

Hannaford Bros. did not react to a petition for comment. The company is owned by the Delhaize Group, based in Belgium.

The invasion affected Hannaford Stores in New England and New York, Sweetbay supplies in Florida, and some independently-owned retail supplies in the Northeast that sell Hannaford products. Hannaford Brothers said that the invasion was detected on February 27.

The Bay State Bankers Association, which stands for about 200 fiscal establishments in New England, said on Monday that Visa and MasterCard had contacted between 60 and 70 Banks in Bay State about a big information breach that had occurred at "a major retailer." Visa and MasterCard did not name Hannaford Bros. arsenic a substance of policy.

The Hannaford incident is the biggest publicly known information breach in the U.S. since September 2007, when hackers entrees 6.3 million Ameritrade client name and computer address records. In January 2007, TJX Companies disclosed that information thieves had accessed its waiters during the former year. An estimated 94 million recognition and debit entry card records were stolen.

In December 2007, the Bay State Bankers Association said that it had settled its lawsuit against TJX Companies under unrevealed terms.

Hannaford is advising clients to carefully reexamine their recognition and debit entry card statements over the past three calendar months and to reach the issuing establishment immediately in the event of any irregularity.

Hannaford have put up a client aid line at 866-591-4580.