Spring Break
Major fraud at Hannaford
News | 3/25/08
Posted online at 1:59 AM EST on 3/25/08
David Sharp (AP)--The Hannaford Bros. supermarket chain, which owns the closest major grocery store to Brandeis, experienced a three-month security breach in which over four million credit and debit card numbers were exposed.
The breach, which began on Dec. 7 and wasn't contained until March 10, revealed numbers of cards used at 165 Hannaford stores in New England and New York and 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida, as well as a smaller number of independent grocers selling Hannaford products.
Hannaford supermarket in Waltham is located about one mile from campus on Russell Street, and is often frequented by Brandeis students.
"As a customer of Hannaford, it's scary to know that something like this could happen," Craig Letendre '08 said. "This will probably make me think twice about using my credit card at Hannaford in the future."
So far, there have been about 1,800 cases of reported fraud stemming from the data breach, said Carol Eleazer, vice president of marketing at Hannaford's headquarters in Scarborough.
Hannaford became aware of unusual credit card activity Feb. 27. Investigators later discovered that the data breach began Dec. 7, but wasn't contained until March 10, Eleazer said.
"Hannaford should have notified their card-holding customers sooner," Letendre said.
Credit and debit card numbers were stolen during the card authorization transmission process but no personal information like names, addresses or telephone numbers was divulged, the company said. Hannaford doesn't collect, know or keep any personally identifiable customer information from transactions, it said.
"For more than 125 years, Hannaford has been dedicated to earning the trust of our customers, and we sincerely regret any concern or inconvenience this has caused," Ronald C. Hodge, Hannaford president and CEO, said Monday in a statement. "We have taken aggressive steps to augment our network security capabilities."
Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, said holders of debit cards involved in the Hannaford case are most at risk of fraud. While banks generally cover costs up front from fraudulent charges that appear on customers' credit card statements, exposure of a debit card in a breach could potentially lead a criminal to drain a victim's bank account. That would leave a consumer having to convince a bank that they deserve to be reimbursed.
The breach, which began on Dec. 7 and wasn't contained until March 10, revealed numbers of cards used at 165 Hannaford stores in New England and New York and 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida, as well as a smaller number of independent grocers selling Hannaford products.
Hannaford supermarket in Waltham is located about one mile from campus on Russell Street, and is often frequented by Brandeis students.
"As a customer of Hannaford, it's scary to know that something like this could happen," Craig Letendre '08 said. "This will probably make me think twice about using my credit card at Hannaford in the future."
So far, there have been about 1,800 cases of reported fraud stemming from the data breach, said Carol Eleazer, vice president of marketing at Hannaford's headquarters in Scarborough.
Hannaford became aware of unusual credit card activity Feb. 27. Investigators later discovered that the data breach began Dec. 7, but wasn't contained until March 10, Eleazer said.
"Hannaford should have notified their card-holding customers sooner," Letendre said.
Credit and debit card numbers were stolen during the card authorization transmission process but no personal information like names, addresses or telephone numbers was divulged, the company said. Hannaford doesn't collect, know or keep any personally identifiable customer information from transactions, it said.
"For more than 125 years, Hannaford has been dedicated to earning the trust of our customers, and we sincerely regret any concern or inconvenience this has caused," Ronald C. Hodge, Hannaford president and CEO, said Monday in a statement. "We have taken aggressive steps to augment our network security capabilities."
Beth Givens, director of the San Diego-based Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, said holders of debit cards involved in the Hannaford case are most at risk of fraud. While banks generally cover costs up front from fraudulent charges that appear on customers' credit card statements, exposure of a debit card in a breach could potentially lead a criminal to drain a victim's bank account. That would leave a consumer having to convince a bank that they deserve to be reimbursed.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 3
Barry Bloch
posted 3/26/08 @ 9:17 AM EST
Major Journalism Malpractice at the Justice:
Your title to this article, "Major Fraud at Hannaford," is inaccurate and misleading. The security breach you describe is not fraud. (Continued…)
Kaila Schwartz ('08)
posted 3/27/08 @ 11:04 AM EST
Add one more case of fraud to the list. My credit card number was used fraudulently yesterday morning and now I have to cancel it and set up a new account. (Continued…)
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