Staples is investigating a possible data breach

[Omaha Steve]

Source: W Post

By Sarah Halzack

Staples said on Tuesday that it is investigating “a potential issue” with its customers’ credit card data.

“We take the protection of customer information very seriously, and are working to resolve the situation,” said Mark Cautela, a Staples spokesman.

Cautela said that Staples has contacted law enforcement about a possible data breach and pledges that it will not hold customers liable for any fraudulent activity if a breach is confirmed.

Brian Krebs, a cybersecurity blogger who first broke the news of a breach at Home Depot, has reported that banks say they have noticed unusual activity that suggests that Staples locations in the “Northeastern United States are currently dealing with a data breach.”

FULL story at link.



(Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg)


Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2014/10/21/staples-is-investigating-a-possible-data-breach/

[GoneFishin]

1. Anybody else wonder if some of these data breaches are really cover stories for customer data that

was actually sold or given away? I questioned the lost laptops some years back which contained hundreds of thousands of social security and/or veterans records on them. It just seems odd to me.

[eggplant]

2. No, I highly doubt that.

These data breaches are about payment credentials, not consumer sales data. Most of these types of stores already have your permission (per their terms of service) to sell your sales data -- there would be no need for a cover story.

Lucky for me (I guess), I got swept up in the Home Depot breach, and haven't used my new payment credentials at Staples since then, so I'm risk free here. I've been boycotting Staples over their USPS privatization crap, despite the daily email bombardment of coupons and deals I get from them, so I'm not worried about future risk either.

[tomm2thumbs]

3. a couple years ago my account was breached at Staples -- dang, never made the news

I'm guessing this must be a huge swath of folks involved to hit the press