Another credit card hack at Staples may have taken place between August 10 and September 16.
Earlier this year, the large retailer that specializes in office supplies was involved in a malware attack on some of their systems. Now, three months later, the company released some information they received from the investigation.
113 U.S. Stapes were affected by the attack, and it’s possible that 1.16 million credit cards were compromised. While it’s still unknown on how much information the attackers stole, card numbers, verification codes, expiration dates, and cardholder names are at risk.
The investigation also showed that malware in two of their stores may have been running since late July.
Staples removed the malicious software back in September, and since then, they’ve improved their security with new tools. For customers who shopped at the retailer during the time of the attack, the company is offering them free identity protection services.
The attack shouldn’t come as a surprise since Staples brought up the potential breach back in October. While the numbers released today are huge, it’s a bit of a relief compared to the Target hack last December where 40 million debit and credit cards were compromised.
The Home Depot was also targeted, risking nearly 56 million credit cards.
Credit and debit card hacks has become more common today compared to several years ago. The fear to protect ones identity could be a reason why the recently launched, Apple Pay, is doing so well. Just three weeks after the program’s release in October, the impact was very noticeable.
Earlier this week, Samsung responded to this success, wanting to create their own service that will allow consumers to pay with their phone.
These new mobile services are on the rise, and a huge reason is because of the safety involved. For Apple Pay, credit and debit card information is never stored in the merchant’s computers, thanks to the use of Tokenization. This would make it impossible for a user’s card to be compromised if a retailer is hacked by malicious software.
If Samsung goes through with their plan, they will also use Tokenization. With their potential partnership, LoopPay, they make beat Apple Pay.
If you shopped at Staples during the possible credit card hack and are wondering if your location was affected, you can see the store list and dates the malware was active here.