A breach at pet product retailer Petco has exposed the personal data of customers in several states. After confirming the incident last week, Petco revealed the severity of the breach in a filing with the Texas AG on Friday.
As reported by TechCrunch, the leak exposes customers’ names, date of birth, Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses, bank account numbers, as well as credit or debit card info.
Petco hasn’t confirmed the total number of customers impacted. It serves 24 million customers annually and has made similar filings in California, Massachusetts, and Montana.
In Massachusetts, Petco reported one resident was affected, and in Montana, three. A filing in California, on the other hand, indicates that at least 500 residents were impacted—that is the minimum threshold for a data breach disclosure in the state.
In the California filing, Petco also disclosed what caused the leak. “A setting within one of our software applications that inadvertently allowed certain files to be accessible online,” it says, adding that it took immediate action to fix the issue and block access.
Petco is offering complimentary credit and monitoring services to impacted customers and has begun notifying them via email. The retailer also recommends staying vigilant of potential fraud or identity theft attempts and monitoring account statements regularly for unauthorized borrowings.
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If you believe you’ve fallen victim to any of the stated fraudulent activities, you can take further steps as outlined in Petco’s disclosure.
Petco is the latest retailer to suffer a breach this year. As of writing, it’s unclear if the attack is related to the large-scale Salesforce breach that affected many of its high-profile clients, such as Adidas, Gucci, and over a dozen others.
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Jibin is a tech news writer based out of Ahmedabad, India. Previously, he served as the editor of iGeeksBlog and is a self-proclaimed tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience.
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