Sears Holdings said Friday the payment systems at its Kmart retail chain had been breached as a result of malware, compromising shoppers’ credit and debit card numbers. The US retail chain’s payment systems were infected with a form of malware that went undetected by its anti-virus systems, Sears said. There is no evidence that Kmart shoppers’ personal information, PIN numbers, email addresses or Social Security numbers were stolen, and the malware has since been removed, Sears said.
Sears Holdings Corp. said Friday that a data breach at its Kmart stores that started last month may have compromised some customers’ credit and debit cards. The data theft at Kmart is the latest in a string of hacks at big retailers including Target, Supervalu and Home Depot. Sears Holdings, which also operates Sears stores, said that Kmart’s information technology department on Thursday detected a breach of its payment data systems. The company was unable to provide the number of affected cards. But it said that based on its investigation so far, it believes no personal information, debit card PIN numbers, email addresses or social security numbers were obtained by the hackers. And there’s no evidence that Kmart.com shoppers were affected. It said Kmart was able to remove the malicious software from its systems.
