Data theft puts IT on hot seat

The tech industry has been analyzing and evaluating the recent theft of 4.2 million credit and debit card numbers from the Hannaford supermarket chain, a Maine-based grocer. And what they are finding is quite unsettling. While the theft is tiny in comparison with last year's massive data breach involving 94 million cardholders at The TJX, it is worrisome for different reasons. The theft was the first known heist that occurred when customer data was in transit as opposed to sitting in a database. What's more, the company was in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). That standard was established by major credit card companies to protect the privacy of customer data. But some experts say that is not enough of a wall to protect valuable information from being stolen. What's a company to do? Put added safeguards in place and review them often. Check out your security protections and make sure they work. Lawsuits are expected in the wake of this latest theft. And that should come as no surprise.

For more on the fallout from this data theft:
- Check out this SearchCIO article

Other articles on data theft:
- Malware blamed on supermarket leak. Article
- Questions about Hannaford theft. Article
- A well-orchestrated leak. Article