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Hannaford hack hits home

Students affected by recent grocery store info breach

By Nick McCrea

Posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008, 12:00 am

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The breach of Hannaford Brothers Company credit and debit card database, which occurred between Dec. 7 and March 10, has caused some worry for Hannaford customers.

With college students financially vulnerable, area banks are urging customers to help them keep a close eye on their credit reports.

“Right now we’re monitoring accounts very closely,” said Carol Colson, director of marketing and relations for Bangor Savings Bank.

The thefts affected about 23,000 Bangor Savings customers, but because of “cutting-edge fraud detection software,” she said, “so far we haven’t seen any increase in fraudulent activity at all.”

Some weren’t lucky enough to dodge the bullet.

Third-year electrical engineering technology major Dale Leonard was among the victims. He found a suspicious $2,202.82 charge on his credit card account from a purchase made at a New York City cigar shop.

“Thankfully I check my account every day, I always did,” Leonard said.

He called his bank, Citibank, immediately. The bank told him they thought the purchase was probably connected to the Hannaford situation. Leonard shops about twice a week at Hannaford in Old Town. Ironically, he used his credit card – which he uses on rare occasions – one time to purchase groceries at the store.

The bank canceled his credit card and issued him a new one. He had to fill out an affidavit identifying the fraudulent charge and the bank will negate the charge once it processes the affidavit.

About 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers were vulnerable during the Hannaford breach, but the exact number used in fraudulent charges varies from bank to bank and the total is still shady. All 165 Hannaford stores in New England and New York, and more than 100 Sweetbay stores in Florida were vulnerable during the breach.

“It’s very clear that our system has been attacked,” Norton said. “It’s obviously a big mess and something we never wanted to see happen.”

Colson advises people to check their account histories frequently to keep an eye out for suspicious charges. If anything seems out of place, contact your bank immediately.

Hannaford spokesperson Michael Norton warned consumers to watch out for scammers who might try to steal information outside of the digital realm. He said that in past fraud operations, such as the one involving stores in Framingham, Mass., tens of millions of cards used at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores were exposed.

Hannaford first caught wind of the fraud on Feb. 27, and began its investigation into the security breach within several days.

“We’ve brought in a lot of IT [information technology] security experts and they’re learning a lot about how this was done,” Norton said. He could not reveal details about who had infiltrated the system or how they had done it because it could potentially help scammers and thieves bypass the security measures they have taken to prevent further thefts.

He said the company used its IT staff and brought in IT forensics analysts, making a group of “dozens of experts” that is working on the problem. “They try to wear the hat of the people that are trying to hack into the system,” Norton said. By finding out how the hackers break into the system to obtain the information, the technicians hope to adjust the system to block them.

Hannaford representatives said costs from the investigation will not be relayed onto customers.

While Hannaford tries to prevent future breaches, several of its customers say they are worried about their accounts but not enough to stop using their credit and debit cards to make purchases.

“It’s been a big concern,” Tom Ammerman of Old Town said about the security of his information as he put grocery bags in his truck while leaving the Old Town Hannaford. “But at the same time, I’m not changing a thing. I check my account a bit more often, but this situation isn’t going to prevent me from using my cards.”

Amy Goodie, data processing coordinator for Facilities Management at UMaine, agreed. Her bank contacted her to tell her she would be receiving a new debit card in the coming weeks because her current card was vulnerable, but she said even after she gets the new card, she will continue to use it to make purchases.

“The way that this whole thing was done, it could easily have happened at any store,” Goodie said. “All you can do is keep a close watch.”