It seems that hardly a week goes by that we don’t hear about another high-profile data breach. This time in the hot seat, we find Amazon-owned Whole Foods. Specifically, we find Whole Foods Market locations. The company is reporting that hackers were able to gain unauthorized access to credit card information at an undisclosed number of its scores in the US, the UK and Canada.
So far, the company has not released details relating to which stores were impacted, only that POS terminals were targeted, and that some customer credit and debit card data was compromised, though a company spokesperson did stress that the breach did not allow the hackers to access Amazon.com purchase information.
Whole Foods has called in an outside firm to help it investigate the breach, is working with law enforcement agencies and has posted a brief notice on their website.
The company encourages anyone who has shopped at Whole Foods Market to monitor their credit card statements closely to make sure there’s been no unauthorized activity.
As corporate responses go, Whole Foods’ has been less than perfect. So far, the company has not released any details about the exact number of stores impacted, where they were, and how many customers have been affected.
Further, to this point, there’s no indication that the company has made any attempt to reach out to the impacted customers and notify them, or offer them any form of free credit monitoring or related services. Although, to be fair, the situation is still unfolding and the company may take these actions at some point down the road.
The situation is still quite fluid, and if and as additional information becomes available, we’ll have more to say about this. For the time being, the important takeaway is that if you’ve shopped at Whole Foods Market, keep a close watch on your credit or debit card. It may have been compromised.
