Department store chain Sears Holding Corp. and Delta Air Lines, Inc., say some of their customers’ payment information may have been exposed after a data breach at technology firm [ 24]7.ai, a customer service operation used by both companies.
The breach began on Sept. 26, and was discovered on Oct. 12, 2017, with Sears and Delta being notified of the incident in March 2018. Only online customer payment information was affected.
Sears says their stores were not affected, nor were their their internal systems. There was also no impact on customers using a Sears-branded credit card. Delta says that while payment information may have been accessed, no other customer information — like passports, government IDs, security or SkyMiles — were impacted.
In response to the incident, Delta will be launching a website to keep customers updated and to address questions and concerns. Sears is also posting updates on their corporate website and establishing a hotline by 10 a.m. on Friday, April 6.
If you believe you have may been affected, visit either the Delta website or Sears website to find out the next steps you should take. To help protect yourself in the future, consider checking your credit reports, keeping a close eye on bank statements and credit cards, placing a fraud alert on certain files or even freezing your credit.
Do you monitor your information regularly so you’ll know if there is a problem?
About the Author
Kaitlin is a freelance multimedia journalist with a degree in journalism and psychology. Along with Don't Waste Your Money, she also writes for Simplemost, where she covers new product and food launches and overall general news. You can email her at kaitlingateswrites@gmail.com or find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/KaitlinGatesWrites. More.
