Saks OFF 5th Data Breach Exposes Customer Credit Card Info

A Saks OFF 5th data breach allegedly compromised millions of consumers’ credit card information.

JokerStash Syndicate, a hacking group, have recently made the Saks Fifth Ave, Lord & Taylor, and Saks OFF 5th data breach public, claiming to have 5 million credit card and debit card numbers from stores. The hackers, who began stealing the information in May 2017, say they have been releasing the numbers for sale on the dark web.

The information is believed to have been stolen from point of sale systems. This information is valuable to individuals interested in consumer information and can easily be sold for profit on the dark web.

So far, information from 125,000 cards has reportedly been released for sale by the hackers. Some cards were used by owners as recently as last month in the affected stores. The Saks OFF 5th data breach information will likely be sold in smaller batches, as JokerStash has done in the past with other breaches. By released the information in small batches, they avoid flooding the market for illegally obtained payment information.

A recently class action lawsuit regarding the Saks OFF 5th data breach claims that “the data breach was a direct and proximate result of [Saks’] failure to properly safeguard and protect [consumers’ personal information] from unauthorized access, use, and disclosure, as required by various state and federal regulations, industry practices, and the common law.”

A spokesman for Hudson’s Bay Co., a Canadian company which owns the stores targeted by the breach, recently confirmed the data breach at its North America stores. The spokesman said that an investigation is ongoing, and they do not know how may accounts were exposed. At this time, the company doesn’t believe that Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers were compromised by the Saks OFF 5th data breach.

Hudson’s Bay Co. plans to inform consumers when the investigation is complete. The company is coordinating with law enforcement and offering their customers free identity protection services including credit monitoring. Consumers will not be held liable for fraudulent charges.

The Saks OFF 5th data breach is the latest in a series of hacks that have compromised personal information. In the Equifax breach in 2017, nearly 148 million consumers had their personal information compromised, including fragments of their drivers licenses. In the 2013 Target data breach, more than 40 million people had their name, address, or phone number stolen.

JokerStash, the perpetrator of the Saks OFF 5th data breach, has been linked to a series of breaches in the past. Victims of these breaches have included Whole Foods Market, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., Omni Hotels & Resorts, and Trump Hotels.

In light of recent breaches, many retailers have switched to chip reading technology which uses a computer chip to authenticate transactions. According to Hudson’s Bay, all Saks OFF 5th and Saks Fifth Avenue stores were equipped with chip reading technology as early as the fall of 2016. Lord & Taylor stores followed soon after and were equipped in February 2017.

Join a Free Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

Consumers affected by the 2017 Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks OFF Fifth, and Lord & Taylor data breach incidents may qualify to join a free data breach class action lawsuit investigation. A data breach lawsuit could help you or a loved one recover compensation for stolen credit card information and the threat of identity theft.

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