Data Breach Detected Involing Kmart Credit Card Customers, Company Says No Personal Data Was Stolen

If you have a Kmart credit card, you may want to keep an eye on your bill. NBC News reported on Friday that Sears Holdings Corporation, the parent company of Kmart, admitted they had detected a data breach involving customer’s credit information. The company is only one on a growing list of businesses in the United States to have had their data hacked in recent months.

Companies such as JPMorgan, Target, Home Depot, and Dairy Queen have also reported having their systems compromised. Kmart detected the data breach on Thursday, but it may have been going on for than a month. The company didn’t say how many customers were affected by the breach, but they did report that they were able to get rid of the malware in their system that led to the data breach.

The Wall Street Journal stated Sears reported the data breach to the Securities and Exchange Commission and said no personal data like email addresses, PIN numbers or Social Security numbers were taken by the hackers. Neither Sears credit cards nor their online customers were affected by the data breach.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a warning to businesses and reported than more than a 1,000 U.S. companies had experienced data breaches caused by the “Backoff” malware. The malware targets cash-register systems in stores.

A data breach affecting the Target stores during last winter’s holiday shopping season compromised more than 40 million credit and debit card accounts. In September, Home Deport reported a data breach that is said to have affected more than 56 million cards, and the data breach may have been ongoing for more than five months.

The Inquisitr reports that the hack to JPMorgan’s data systems may have affected more than 76 million American households and seven million small businesses. JPMorgan’s data breach is believed to have been carried out by the Russian government in retaliation for sanctions imposed on the country after they invaded the Ukraine.

There is no indication of exactly how many credit card accounts may have been involved in Kmart’s data breach. The company is investigating the breach along with security firms, their banking partners, and federal agencies. The Secret Service may be one of the agencies involved in the data breach probe.

Sears plans to start using more advanced software to protect customer information in the event of another data breach. They retailer urged all customers to review their credit and debit card statements in case the breach did effect their accounts.

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