Supervalu on Friday warned its computer network was hacked and the intrusion could potentially have led to the theft of payment card data used at more than 200 grocery stores.
The grocery-store chain said its computer network that processes payment card transactions for some of its stores experienced a “criminal intrusion,” which may have resulted in the theft of account numbers and in some cases, also the expiration date and other details like the cardholder’s name. The company hasn’t determined if any such cardholder data was in fact stolen and said there isn’t any evidence of misuse of the data.
“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,” President and CEO Sam Duncan said in a statement.
Supervalu (SVU), which is working with federal law enforcement authorities to identify those responsible for the intrusion to its system, said it believes payment cards from which cardholder data may have been stolen were used during June 22 (at the earliest) through July 17 (at the latest) at 180 Supervalu stores and stand-alone liquor stores. A list of the stores that were affected can be found here. Meanwhile, theft may also have occurred at 29 franchised Cub Foods stores and stand-alone liquor stores.
The intrusion affected a number of the company’s pharmacy banners, including Farm Fresh, Hornbacher’s, Shop’n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy.
Cyberattacks are an increasing concern for companies and individuals, with billions of dollars lost every year to repair systems hit by such attacks. EBay, Target and Sally Beauty are among the retail companies that have reported an attack to their system in the past year.
