The trend of hacker attacks on the U.S retailers continue with Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) reporting a payment data systems breach at its Kmart chain. Kmart, which operates nearly 1,200 stores across the country, revealed that their payment systems have been attacked by hackers, putting credit and debit card details of customers in jeopardy.
This news had an impact on the shares of Sears Holdings, carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), which fell 5.99% during Friday’s trade to close at $24.78.
The discount retail chain had identified the attacked on Oct 9 and is in the process of investigating it with a leading IT security firm and law enforcement agency. So far, the investigation has revealed that the company’s systems were breached in early September using a malware that was not detected by the anti-virus systems. The company has now successfully removed the malware from its systems.
Though the robbers managed to get their hands on certain debit and credit card numbers, the company stated that they were unable to access personal information, debit card PIN numbers, email addresses and social security numbers of its customers.
Cyber attacks have become frequent in recent times. The reason probably is the lack of adequate systems to detect and thwart them. Some of the recent and major instances of such attacks in the retail industry are that of Home Depot Inc. (HD) and Target Corp. (TGT), wherein data of about 56 million and 40 million debit and credit cards, respectively, were compromised.
Another recent cyber attack that shook the U.S. economy was the breach reported by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) earlier this month. The banker revealed that the data breach compromised customer information on its Chase.com and JPMorganOnline websites as well as on the respective mobile applications. The numbers are shocking, with nearly 76 million households and 7 million small businesses affected by the transgression.
Whether a retailer or a banker, this wave of cyber attacks in the U.S. indicates that anyone is invincible to these and need to change their payment card using practices. The companies need to step up their security systems in order to counter this threat.
However, until appropriate measures are adopted by retailers and bankers in this direction customers will be reluctant to make transaction with their cards in stores or online. This surely is going to have a major impact on the business of retailers as well as on banks.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Get all Zacks Research Reports and be alerted to fast-breaking buy and sell opportunities every trading day.
Be the first to comment