Michaels confirms breach of as many as 2.6M cards

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NEW YORK (AP) — Michaels Stores Inc. said Thursday that
about 2.6 million cards, or about 7 percent of all debit and credit
cards used at its namesake stores, may have been affected in a security
breach.
The nation’s largest arts and crafts chain said its
subsidiary Aaron Brothers was also attacked, with about 400,000 cards
potentially affected.
Irving, Texas-based Michaels said that it
has contained the incident, which began last year. It has received
"limited" reports of fraud from banks and the payment card brands that
are potentially connected to the breach.
The compromised data
includes customer information such as payment card numbers and
expiration dates. But there’s no evidence that other personal
information such as names, addresses or PIN numbers were at risk,
Michaels said.
Michaels’ report comes as many shoppers worry about
the safety of their personal data following a massive pre-Christmas
security breach at Target Corp. that affected 40 million debit and
credit cards.
The details come nearly three months after Michaels
disclosed that it may have been a victim of a data breach and that it
was working with law enforcement authorities, banks and payment
processors.
The company said Thursday that both chains were
attacked by criminals using highly sophisticated malware that had not
been encountered previously by the two security firms that were
conducting the investigation.
"Our customers are always number one
priority and we are truly sorry for any inconvenience or concern
Michaels may have caused," said Chuck Rubin, CEO of Michaels, in a
statement.
The breach at Michaels stores occurred between May 8,
2013 and Jan. 27. The company confirmed that between June 26, 2013 and
Feb. 27, 54 Aaron Brothers stores were affected by this malware.
Michaels
said that it was offering free identity protection, credit monitoring
and fraud assistance services to affected Michaels and Aaron Brothers
customers in the U.S. for 12 months.
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Follow Anne D’Innocenzio at http://www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

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