Hackers Continue Their Assault on Retailers: 10 High-Profile Breaches

by Sean Michael Kerner

Target first confirmed that it had been breached on Dec. 19, 2013. Initially, 40 million consumers were thought to be at risk, but Target revised the number upward to 70 million. The current price tag on the Target data breach stands at $148 million.

In the Neiman Marcus attack, approximately 1.1 million credit and debit card holders were impacted.

Craft store Michaels confirmed in April that its stores were affected by point-of-sale malware from approximately May 8, 2013, to Jan. 27, 2014. Approximately 2.6 million credit cards were exposed in the incident.

Sally Beauty admitted on March 5 that its systems had been breached, though it noted that “fewer than 25,000 records” were illegally accessed.

Restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s confirmed on June 12 that its systems were breached. In order to keep taking customer credit cards, the restaurant temporarily reverted back to manual credit card imprinting.

On Aug. 20, UPS confirmed that 51 of its stores were breached. The breach had been active from Jan. 20 until Aug. 11. UPS noted that it found malware on its systems after reading a U.S. government advisory on POS malware.

One hundred eighty SuperValu stores were impacted by a breach that is thought to have run from June 22 to July 17.

Three hundred thirty Goodwill Industries retail stores were impacted by a data breach that was likely operational between Feb. 10, 2013, and Aug. 14, 2014.

Dairy Queen is investigating a data breach that may have impacted some of its stores.

Home Depot is now also investigating a potential data breach against its retail systems.