America’s biggest arts and crafts retailer Michaels and its affiliate Aaron Brothers has confirmed two separate eight-month long security breaches.
The breach, lasting approximately from May 8, 2013 to January 27, 2014, has affected over 2.6 million cards. Hackers received credit card numbers and expiration dates. According to the press release, customer’s personal information, including PIN numbers, addresses, and names, were not hacked.
The Irving, Texas-based chain has since remedied the breach, as the malware no longer poses a threat.
This is the second breach for the arts and craft chain since 2011. In May 2011, thieves had physically tampered with point of sale devices in numerous Chicago locations. This latest credit card breach follows the massive security infringement at Target Corp., where 70 million customer credit cards were compromised. Cyber thieves planted malware in the stores cash registers, retrieving essential information.
Although Michaels has received a limited amount of fraud cases, it offers credit monitoring and fraud assistance through AllClear ID services at no cost for 12 months.