The Portland-based gift retailer Made In Oregon has warned over 7,800 of its online customers that their personal information may have been compromised following a large-scale data hack that occurred in 2020.
The cyber attack was first publicly announced by the retailer back in October. The company subsequently sent letter notifications to all customers involved advising them of the potential data compromises and advising them to change their passwords and look for suspicious activities on their accounts.
Made In Oregon confirmed that the cyber attack may have affected online customers who had completed transactions between February and August 2020. They stated, “We think the actual number of people who had their cards used fraudulently was very, very small. Having said that, anybody who [made a purchase] on our site was potentially compromised, which is why we immediately came forward.”
The company also verified that telephone sales and in-store purchases were not impacted by the data breach. Once the breach was identified, the company acted swiftly to remove any vulnerabilities and prevent further damage for the business or its customers.
Nonetheless, this data breach is significant, not least due to the nature of personal information that may have ended up in the wrong hands. The incident saw affected consumers’ names, billing addresses, shipping addresses, email addresses, and credit card information targeted by the hackers. A small number of customers are known to have suffered fraudulent credit card activity.
Made In Oregon has responded by offering customers who completed a purchase during those dates a one-year complimentary credit monitoring service via Experian. The retailer has additionally worked closely with local law enforcement to support customers who are known to have their details stolen.
The data breach has served as a wake-up call for the retailer, who has quickly hired specialists in the fields of computer forensics and cybersecurity to upgrade its protection against hackers, fraudsters, and other danger sources. The company’s website, payment processing platforms, and telesales systems have all been upgraded on the back of this incident, and the company has said that its facilities are now in good health.
While it did affect up to 8,700 people, the breach was nothing compared to some of the biggest attacks in history, like Yahoo’s infamous 3 billion accounts data breach. Nonetheless, Made In Oregon’s situation should be a reminder to all businesses that data leaks and cyberattacks can affect businesses from all backgrounds and sizes, causing major repercussions for all parties involved. Sadly, attacks happen every day, and SMEs are often the target due to presumed vulnerabilities.
Working with a professional provider of IT services in Portland is one of the best ways to stay one step ahead of hackers and cyber criminals. When attacks do occur, having reliable network monitoring, backups, and disaster recovery plans in place allow for a quicker response and recovery.