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Cub Foods hit by cyberthieves; customers' credit cards at risk [Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. :: ](Saint Paul Pioneer Press (MN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 15--The owner of Cub Foods said criminals have broken into its computer network and warned Friday they might have stolen shoppers' credit card numbers. The security breach occurred between June 22 and July 17, according to Cub's parent company, Eden Prairie-based Supervalu. Cardholders' names, card expiration dates and other information might also have been stolen, it warned. The breach affects 41 Cub Foods stores in the Twin Cities, along with 10 adjacent Cub Foods liquor stores, Supervalu said. Cub Foods is the largest grocer in the Twin Cities, with Target in second place -- and now, both have been hit by cyberthieves. In Greater Minnesota, the breach involved nine additional stores. All 60 affected Minnesota stores are listed below. The company said it has "not determined that any such cardholder data was in fact stolen by the intruder, and it has no evidence of any misuse of any such data, but is making this announcement out of an abundance of caution." Nationally, the company said the breach affected 209 stores across all five of Supervalu's supermarket chains: Cub Foods and its franchisees in Minnesota, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher's, Shop 'n Save and Shoppers Food & Pharmacy. In a statement issued early Friday, Supervalu announced "a criminal intrusion into the portion of its computer network that processes payment card transactions" had occurred. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources close to the case, reported that Supervalu breach "may have resulted from hackers installing malicious software on to the company's point-of-sale network." That's the network including the cash register and terminals where consumers scan their credit and debit cards. A similar cyberattack hit Minneapolis-based Target Corp. during the holiday season last year, when hackers stole credit- and debit-card information from 40 million shoppers. Another 70 million Target shoppers had other personal information stolen. Millions of those stolen card numbers from Target were later offered for sale online to other criminals. Supervalu is offering customers whose cards might have been affected a year of complimentary consumer identity protection services via AllClear ID. The company has created a call center to help answer customer questions about the data breach and the identity protection services being offered. The call center can be reached at 855-731-6018. Customers may also visit Supervalu's website under the Consumer Security Advisory section to get more information about the data breach and the identity protection services. In early-afternoon trading, shares of Supervalu were down nearly 4 percent. There was also a related intrusion at some stores owned and run by Albertson's LLC and New Albertson's Inc., the company said. Supervalu provides information technology services to the Albertson's and New Albertson's stores. Supervalu doesn't think the data breach affected its Save-A-Lot stores or any independent grocery stores supplied by the company, aside from Cub Foods franchisees. It also said a handful of Cub Foods stores owned by franchisees were also not affected by the breach, since they use a separate payment system. Once it learned of the breach, the company said that it took immediate steps to secure that portion of its network. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. "The intrusion was identified by our internal team, it was quickly contained, and we have had no evidence of any misuse of any customer data," Supervalu CEO Sam Duncan said in a statement. "I regret any inconvenience that this may cause our customers but want to assure them that it is safe to shop in our stores." Supervalu is the second major Minnesota retailer hit by cyberthieves in the past year. Fallout from the Target breach continues. The company's CEO Gregg Steinhafel was fired in the spring and was replaced this week by CEO Brian Cornell. Target also has been struggling to win back all of its shoppers and has missed its financial goals since the breach occurred. There have been smaller breaches at Neiman Marcus, Michaels Stores Inc., and Goodwill. Here are the Cub Foods stores in the Twin Cities impacted by the breach: Apple Valley, 15350 Cedar Av. S. Arden Hills, 3717 Lexington Av. N. (Its liquor store was also affected). Blaine, 12595 Central Av. N.E. Blaine, 585 Northtown Dr. Blaine, 4205 Pheasant Ridge Dr. Bloomington, 8421 S. Lyndale Av. (Liquor stores was also affected) Brooklyn Park, 9655 Colorado Lane N. Brooklyn Park, 7555 W. Broadway. (Liquor store also affected) Burnsville, 300 Travelers Tr. E. Burnsville, 1750 W. County Road 42 (Liquor store also affected) Champlin, 8600 N. 114th Av. Chanhassen, 7900 Market Blvd. Coon Rapids, 2050 Northdale Blvd. Cottage Grove, 8690 East Point Douglas Crystal, 5301 36th Av. N. Eagan, 1940 Cliff Lake Road Eagan, 1020 Diffley Road (Liquor store also affected) Forest Lake, 2013 Broadway Av. W. Fridley, 246 57th Av. NE Hastings, 1729 Market Blvd. Inver Grove Heights, 7850 Cahill Ave. Lakeville, 7435 179th St. Lakeville, 20250 Heritage Drive Maple Grove, 8150 Wedgewood Lane Maplewood, 100 W. County Road B (Liquor store also affected) Maplewood, 2390 White Bear Av. N. New Brighton, 2600 Rice Creek Plymouth, 4445 Nathan Lane (Liquor store also affected) Plymouth, 3550 Vicksburg Lane N. Rosemount, 3784 150th St. W. (Liquor store also affected) Roseville, 2100 N. Snelling Av. Savage, 14075 Highway 13 Shakopee, 1198 Vierling Drive E. (Liquor store also affected) Shorewood, 23800 State Hwy. 7 St. Anthony, 3930 Silver Lake Road Stillwater, 1801 Market Drive (Liquor store also affected) St. Paul, 1177 Clarence St. St. Paul, 2197 Hudson Road St. Paul, 1440 University Av. White Bear Lake, 1059 Meadowlands Dr. Woodbury, 8432 Tamarack Village Here are the Cub Foods supermarkets in Greater Minnesota affected by the breach: Cambridge, 100 Opportunity Blvd. Duluth, 615 W. Central Mankato, 1800 Madison Av. Mankato, 1200 S. Riverfront Road Monticello, 216 7th St. W. Moorhead, 101 11th St. S. (This store is a Hornbacher's) Northfield, 2423 S. Hwy. 3 Rochester, 1012 15th Av. S.E. Willmar, 2201 1st St. S. Associated Press reports were used in this story. Tom Webb can be reached at 651-228-5428. Follow him at twitter.com/TomWebbMN. ___ (c)2014 Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) Visit the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.) at www.twincities.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |