Who Breached: Montgomery Ward
Number Affected: 51,000+
Information breached: Credit card information
How: hackers

Montgomery Ward (a furniture retailer) has failed to notify more than 51,000 customers that their credit card numbers were breached in December, 2007.

Montgomery Ward, a brick & mortar institution that went bankrupt in 2001 and came back as an online retailer at Wards.com, is owned by Direct Marketing Services.

According to the reports, hackers stole 51,000 to 200,000 credit card records in December 2007. While the major credit cards were notified of the breach, customers were not. This clearly goes against various breach notification laws, and Montgomery Ward could face legal suits.

CardCops, a group that tracks payment-card theft for financial institutions, spotted hackers mentioning the sale of the cards in June, bringing this story to the public. Since the story broke, Direct Marketing Services first said they had met their obligations, but later announced that victims of the breach would be contacted.

Likely, without public pressure, consumers would not have been notified of this breach. Wards.com has yet to release information about the breach.

Via attrition, sc magazine, consumerist, AP Tags: montgomery ward, wards.com, cardcops, direct marketing services, breach, data breach, hackers, hacking, credit card information