First Target, now Neiman Marcus
On the heels of Target confirming credit and debit card data was hacked, affecting 40 million shoppers, later updated to 110 million shoppers, Neiman Marcus has acknowledge that they too have been targeted by hackers and shoppers’ credit card information has been stolen.
Security expert Brian Krebs first reported that a number of fraudulent card charges had been traced back to account used at Neiman Marcus, proving that discounters aren’t the only vulnerable retailers – hackers know no bounds.
Neiman Marcus confirms they’ve been hacked
The upscale retailer has confirmed that they were hacked in mid-December, and they have been working with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Secret Service to investigate the attack. They have not yet released, and they may not possibly know quite yet, how many customers’ data was stolen.
A spokesperson for the retailer tells Krebs that they are still unsure of the duration of the breach, nor the full scope, but say that their online store was not hacked, only physical storefronts.
In a statement, the company noted, “Neiman Marcus was informed by our credit card processor in mid-December of potentially unauthorized payment card activity that occurred following customer purchases at our Neiman Marcus Group stores.”
They added, “We informed federal law enforcement agencies and are working actively with the U.S. Secret Service, the payment brands, our credit card processor, a leading investigations, intelligence and risk management firm, and a leading forensics firm to investigate the situation. On January 1st, the forensics firm discovered evidence that the company was the victim of a criminal cyber-security intrusion and that some customers’ cards were possibly compromised as a result. We have begun to contain the intrusion and have taken significant steps to further enhance information security.”
Neiman Marcus assured customers in their statement that securing their information is always a priority. “We sincerely regret any inconvenience. We are taking steps, where possible, to notify customers whose cards we know were used fraudulently after making a purchase at our store.”
Rough start for the company’s new owners
In early 2013, it was said that Neiman Marcus had plans to raise up to $100 million in an IPO bid, even filing an S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, but ended up selling to a Canadian private equity firm for $6 billion. The previous owners bought the company in 2005 for $4.9, spelling a healthy profit.
The new owners, however, are off to a rough start with their customers’ data being hacked, which will likely need to new, and possibly costly security measures.
