Neiman Marcus Hacked: Another Major Credit Card Breach

Only a few weeks after retailing giant Target reported that computer hackers stole credit card information from millions of its holiday shoppers, upscale retailer Neiman Marcus is finally admitting that a breach in cyber-security has compromised the credit cards of its customers as well.

Although officials at the Dallas, Texas-based retailer of luxury goods was alerted back in mid-December that computer hackers had likely accessed confidential information about its customers and their credit cards, they did not make this problem public until New Year’s Day. Neiman Marcus officials also declined to estimate just how many of its customers may have had their information stolen or been affected by the security breach.

Neiman Marcus acknowledged that it was in the process of contacting those customers whose stolen credit card information may have been used over the holiday season to make fraudulent store or online purchases and that it was working with members of the U.S. Secret Service to further investigate the hacking incident.

“Neiman Marcus was informed by our credit card processor in mid-December of potentially unauthorized payment card activity that occurred following customer purchases at our Neiman Marcus Group stores,” the company said in a statement.

A spokesman for Neiman Marcus said that the company declined to reveal just how many customers have been affected and if the problem of fraudulent purchases affected customers across the nation or only in certain geographic regions.

The entirety of the company’s formal statement is as follows:

“Neiman Marcus was informed by our credit card processor in mid-December of potentially unauthorized payment card activity that occurred following customer purchases at our Neiman Marcus Group stores.

We informed federal law enforcement agencies and are working actively with the U.S. Secret Service, the payment brands, our credit card processor, a leading investigations, intelligence and risk management firm, and a leading forensics firm to investigate the situation. On January 1st, the forensics firm discovered evidence that the company was the victim of a criminal cyber-security intrusion and that some customers’ cards were possibly compromised as a result. We have begun to contain the intrusion and have taken significant steps to further enhance information security.

The security of our customers’ information is always a priority and we sincerely regret any inconvenience. We are taking steps, where possible, to notify customers whose cards we know were used fraudulently after making a purchase at our store.”

On The Web:
Neiman Marcus hack affected customers’ credit cards
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/10/22259910-neiman-marcus-hack-affected-customers-credit-cards?lite