- Oct 2, 2011
- 1,534
Here we go again...
Millions of customers’ details have been exposed in a major data breach at an online shopping site owned by the retail giant Woolworths.
The company says a compromised user credential was used to get access to customer information from the MyDeal website.
MyDeal was in the process of contacting an estimated 2.2 million customers who were affected in the breach, the Woolworths Group said in a statement.
The details exposed included customer names, email addresses, phone numbers and delivery addresses, as well as birth dates for people who had to verify their ages when buying alcohol.
In the case of 1.2 million customers, only their email addresses were exposed.
MyDeal did not store sensitive records like payment information, driver’s licence or passport details, and no passwords were compromised in the breach, the company said.
Woolworths took an 80% stake in MyDeal in September in a takeover worth more than $200m.
The company said MyDeal’s systems operated on a different platform to the broader group and no Woolworths customer details had been exposed in the breach.
The MyDeal chief executive, Sean Senvirtne, apologised for the concern the breach would cause for affected customers.
“We will continue to work with relevant authorities as we investigate the incident and we will keep our customers fully informed of any further updates impacting them,” he said.
The MyDeal data breach follows a massive hack at telco Optus in which the personal details of about 10 million customers were exposed.
www.theguardian.com
Millions of customers’ details have been exposed in a major data breach at an online shopping site owned by the retail giant Woolworths.
The company says a compromised user credential was used to get access to customer information from the MyDeal website.
MyDeal was in the process of contacting an estimated 2.2 million customers who were affected in the breach, the Woolworths Group said in a statement.
The details exposed included customer names, email addresses, phone numbers and delivery addresses, as well as birth dates for people who had to verify their ages when buying alcohol.
In the case of 1.2 million customers, only their email addresses were exposed.
MyDeal did not store sensitive records like payment information, driver’s licence or passport details, and no passwords were compromised in the breach, the company said.
Woolworths took an 80% stake in MyDeal in September in a takeover worth more than $200m.
The company said MyDeal’s systems operated on a different platform to the broader group and no Woolworths customer details had been exposed in the breach.
The MyDeal chief executive, Sean Senvirtne, apologised for the concern the breach would cause for affected customers.
“We will continue to work with relevant authorities as we investigate the incident and we will keep our customers fully informed of any further updates impacting them,” he said.
The MyDeal data breach follows a massive hack at telco Optus in which the personal details of about 10 million customers were exposed.
Woolworths says 2.2 million MyDeal customers’ details exposed in data breach
MyDeal chief executive apologises and says incident is being investigated
www.theguardian.com
