In the last several hours, it’s been announced arts and crafts store Michaels Inc suffered a security breach. As many as 3 million credit/debit cards may have been compromised.
According to their own statement, they noticed something was wrong as early as January 2014 and began notifying their customers. It took weeks of intense investigation. But through independent security firms, it was discovered subsidiary Aaron Brothers was attacked by sophisticated malware. These affected accounts are feared to contain payment card numbers and expiration dates. It’s believed customer names, addresses, emails and PIN numbers are not at risk. Micaels Store said 54 physical stores were also hit. Sales between May 2014 and January 2014 are at risk.
This comes in the wake of the Target credit breach during the 2013 holiday shopping season, where around 40 million accounts were compromised. I also think of Neiman Marcus, who earlier this year, endured the theft of over a million accounts. It may seem hopeless because the culprits’ technology is getting more sophisticated. But there are ways you can fight back. Check your card amounts, statements and transactions. Check them often! If anything seems out of whack, cancel the card and ask for a new one to prevent further damage. Don’t depend on credit monitoring services to do it for you. At best, they can alert you after the fact. What are some ways of prevention?