Too Big to Fail? 3 Big Websites Fall Victim to Data Breaches

As proven last year with the data breach that led to millions of dollars in fraudulent charges and identity theft-related expenses to TJ Maxx’s in-house credit cards, no department store or merchant, regardless of size or prevalence, is safe from data breaches. For new evidence of this, look no further than the recent data breaches at Best Buy, Wyndham Hotels and Govtrip.com, a US Government travel website.



Last week, Best Buy announced that 4,000 customers of its West Palm Beach store may have had their credit card information stolen when they made their purchases. A skimming device that duplicates the information housed in a credit card’s magnetic strip was used by an employee for the months of November and December. The employee was eventually apprehended and taken into federal custody, but not before compromising thousands of customers’ credit card information.

Similarly, Wyndham Hotels faced a data breach that may affect up to 21,000 Florida state residents who stayed in the hotel. A hacker managed to illegally gain access and download information from several WHR properties, extracting payment card information from a small percentage of former guests. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum urged Florida residents that stayed at the hotel chain to monitor their credit reports diligently for unauthorized charges and changes to account information.

The private sector isn’t the only one falling victim to data breaches and customer financial information compromise. The US Government’s travel website, Govtrip.com, which is used by numerous government agencies and operated by major defense contractor Northrop, also suffered a breach earlier this month, redirecting users to a malicious website where software of unknown use or origin was delivered to visitors’ computers. The site was still down over the weekend for analysis and repair.

While there is only so much that can be done on an individual level, consistently monitoring credit reports and going through each month’s itemized credit card statement can give individuals some leverage over potential identity theft. In the meantime, we expect companies, both private and public, to make the necessary improvements and enhancements to their security.

For more information on how to protect yourself from online crime, visit the TopTenREVIEWS Security Software Site.

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