It was reported last month that a computer hacker stole thousands of credit card numbers after breaching security at two U.S. grocery store chains owned by Belgium-based Delhaize Group SA. Nearly 2,000 cases of fraud have been linked to the breach, but no personal information such as names or addresses was accessed when the hacker broke into the Hannaford Bros. stores in Massachusetts, New England and New York, and Sweetbay customers in Florida, Hannaford said in a statement. It was reported in Boston that 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers were stolen. Hannaford, headquartered in Scarborough, Maine, said it became aware of unusual credit card activity on Feb. 27 and began an investigation. It said the data was illegally accessed during the credit card authorization process.

There are 165 Hannaford stores in the U.S. Northeast and 106 Sweetbay supermarkets in Florida. This breach is the latest at a big U.S. retailer and comes after U.S. retail group TJX Cos Inc. disclosed last year that data from 45.7 million credit and debit cards were stolen by hackers over a period of 18 months, as well as personal information for 451,000 people. A group of banks later asserted in court documents that the number of consumer accounts that were affected was closer to 94 million, a charge Massachusetts-based TJX denied. Obviously, crimes of this sort can be extremely damaging to individuals whose identity and information is stolen.

Source: Insurance Journal

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