PORTLAND, Maine — It appears the Hannaford Bros Co. grocery retail chain may have been passed a Payment Card Industry compliance audit before its systems were compromised putting at risk up to 4.2 million credit and debit card accounts.
The breach was suspected on Feb. 27 and confirmed after investigation on Mar. 10, according to the company which notified the public about the breach on Mar. 17. The Maine Credit Union League has estimated that Maine and other area credit unions may end up reissuing 150,000 card accounts because of the breach.
The Associated Press has reported that the company had just been audited for PCI compliance and passed when the breach occurred. But other press reports have not mentioned this and the company has not yet replied to a question about it.
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Should the firm have been found to have been PCI compliant when the breach occurred, it may cast doubt on the mechanism that the card industry has been hoping would provide the degree of security against data breaches. The Associated Press also reported that the breach took place when card data was intercepted while being sent to the bank for confirmation, but the company has not yet confirmed this either.
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