In case anybody still believed we were doing ok on cybersecurity, Staples just announced that malware deployed at 115 of its stores nationwide gave hackers access to some 1.16 million customers' payment cards. Check here to see if your store was hit.
If news of a Staples hack sounds familiar, that's because it is. Back in October, the company revealed that it was investigating a possible breach, after several banks identified a pattern of credit card fraud linked to Staples stores. Now, Staples explains that the malware targeted stores' point-of-sale machines which "may have allowed access to some transaction data at affected stores, including cardholder names, payment card numbers, expiration dates, and card verification codes." It's unclear if the 1.16 number refers to all credit cards or Staples cards or both.
Nevertheless, that's a lot of personal financial information that's now presumably out in the wild. The number pales in comparison to the 40 million stolen from Target stores a year ago, not to mention the 56 million cards hit in the related Home Depot breach. But it's just another indication that big box stores—not to mention movie studios like Sony Pictures—are letting people down with their crappy cybersecurity. The hackers must be having a blast, though. [Staples]
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