4.2 million credit card numbers stolen from Hannaford

Just when you thought it was about time to invest all your savings in gold bars, what with all the electronic theft nowadays — you’re probably on the right track. Large grocery line Hannaford can be added to the list of retailers who have fallen prey to computer strikes.

According to Boston.com, Hannaford’s some 4.2 million debit and credit card numbers were compromised in the breach, which occurred between December 7th and March 10th. Even though the company just came out with the information, there have already been 1,800 cases of fraud resulting from the theft.

No names or addresses were disclosed in the infiltration; Ronald C. Hodge, chief executive of Hannaford, said, “[the information] was illegally accessed from our computer systems during transmission of card authorization.”

All of those illegal uses have occurred at the many Hannaford locations states such as Main, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York, as well as Sweetbay stores in Florida, which use the Hannaford computer systems.

Interestingly, though other companies who have been breached have fallen short of security standards, Hannaford was supposedly up to snuff on data protection measures. In light of the recent infiltration, it would seem that further evaluation and increased security measures are in order.

This seems to be one of the inevitable downsides of the advancement of electronic payment. But unless you can find a grocery store willing to make change for those gold bars of yours, you might just have to tough it out.

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