About 1.2 million customer payment cards information is expected to have exposed to the hackers during the security breach earlier this year, Staples Inc. said on Friday.
Staples said that an initial investigation has showed that the hackers made use of malware for the cyber attack that may perhaps have allowed the easy access to confidential information about the card users and details of their transactions at 115 of over 1,400 shops in the US.
According to the company, the leaked information incorporates cardholder names, payment card numbers, card verification codes and expiration dates.
The Framingham- based corporation has been offering identity protection solutions absolutely free of charge, including identity theft insurance coverage, credit monitoring, a cost-free credit report and lots more to the customers who could be at higher risk.
According to the company, the security breach had affected distinct retailers at distinct intervals between July and September this year. The office supply retailer said that it came to know about the potential credit card breach in October.
Staples also received reports of card use in a fraudulent manner at four of its shops in New York between April and September. These stores, however, not located any evidence of malware use during the fraudulent transactions, but the company has decided to supply the protection solutions to customers at all the four NY stores as well.
The cyber crime is becoming severe cause of concern day-by-day as more and more instances of hacking are reported from across the world. Recently, Sony Pictures Entertainment was hit by one of the most vulnerable hack. In September, Household Depot has announced that it was also exposed to cyber attack in which information of 56 million debit and credit cards was expected to have compromised. However, later it said that hackers had also stolen 53 million e mail addresses.