Data breach at US supermarket chain Supervalu
By Retail Technology | Tuesday August 19 2014
The retail grocery network recently notified customers about a data breach at some of its owned and franchised stores
American retailer Supervalu Inc recently announced it had experienced a recent criminal intrusion into the section of its networks that processes payment card transactions for some of its retail food stores, including some of its associated stand-alone liquor stores.
In a public statement, the retailer admitted that the breach may have resulted in the theft of account numbers and in some cases also the expiration date, other numerical information and/or the cardholder’s name, from payment cards used at some point of sale systems at some of the retailer’s owned and franchised stores.
Recent intrusion
Supervalu believes the cards from which the data may have been stolen were used during the period of 22 June 22 to 17 July this year at the 180 Supervalu stores and stand-alone liquor stores operated under the Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher’s, Shop ’n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy banners.
The retailer commented that an investigation, supported by third-party data forensics experts, is on-going to understand the nature and scope of the incident. The company said it has not yet determined that any data was in fact been stolen during the intrusion and had no evidence of the misuse of any such data when it made the announcement.
“The safety of our customers’ personal information is a top priority for us,” said President and CEO Sam Duncan. “The intrusion was identified by our internal team, it was quickly contained and we have had no evidence of any misuse of any customer data. I regret any inconvenience that this may cause our customers but want to assure them that it is safe to shop in our stores.”