Hannaford Bros. exposes 4.2 million to fraud

Who Breached: Hannaford Brothers
Number Affected: 4.2 million
Information breached: Credit, Debit Card Numbers
How: network intrusion

Hannaford Bros. CEO Ron Hodge has issued a statement this week that 4.2 million of its customers have been exposed to fraud due to a security breach. Fraud has been detected already in 1800 cases.

The Maine-based supermarket chain reported an intrusion into its computer network that put 4.2 million customer credit and debit card accounts at risk. The breach affects all 165 of its stores in the Northeast and 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida, as well as a number of independent grocers who sell Hannaford products. The card numbers were stolen during the card authorization transmission processes dating back as early as December 7th. The breach was only contained on March 10th.

Unlike many data breach reporting incidents, the Hannaford Bros. data breach has already been connected with 1800 cases of reported fraud. The fraudulent credit card activity came to light on February 27th. Despite reported fraud incidents, the notification to affected consumers only began on Monday, after the breach had been contained.

Do you think it was socially responsible for Hannaford to wait until after the breach had been contained to warn consumers of their fraud risk?

Via attrition, wmur, cnet Tags: hannaford, data breach, fraud, breach, breach notification, hannaford bros., business security, hacking