Neiman Marcus Suffers Major Credit Card Security Breach

What's This?

By Adario Strange2014-01-11 20:44:47 UTC

Following a massive data breach linked to millions of credit and debit cards used at Target, high-end retailer Neiman Marcus revealed on Saturday that it also suffered a major security breach around the same time.

In a statement on the company’s Twitter feed, Neiman Marcus wrote:

See also: How to Check If Hackers Stole Your Data in Massive Target Breach

“Neiman Marcus was informed by our merchant processor in mid-December of potentially unauthorized payment card activity that occurred following customer purchases at our Neiman Marcus Group stores,” Ginger Reeder, Neiman Marcus' vice-president of corporate communications, told Mashable.

“On January 1st, the forensics firm discovered evidence that the company was the victim of a criminal cyber-security intrusion, and that some customers’ cards were possibly compromised as a result."

Online retailers such as Amazon enjoyed a record-setting holiday-shopping season in 2013. However, news of Target's security breach may make some customers wary of online shopping despite the growing popularity of ecommerce at large.

Originally reported as potentially affecting the debit and credit cards of up to 40 million Target customers, that number may have increased to 110 million on Friday.

Target and Neiman Marcus recently entered a retail partnership designed to appeal to a new demographic of shoppers in between Target’s budget-minded consumer and those interested in Neiman Marcus' upscale goods. Despite the fact Neiman Marcus' breach occurred around the same time as Target’s, neither company has confirmed that the data-theft incidents are related to their partnership.

Because Neiman Marcus consumers typically spend more on their purchases, the theft of that data could yield a particularly high bounty on the black market. The median household income for its shoppers is roughly $125,000 per year, compared to just $64,000 for Target shoppers, according to Neiman Marcus.

“We informed federal law enforcement agencies and are working actively with the U.S. Secret Service, the payment brands, our merchant processor, a leading investigations, intelligence and risk management firm, and a leading forensics firm to investigate the situation,” Reeder said.

"We have begun to contain the intrusion and have taken significant steps to further enhance information security.”

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.

Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Topics: credit cards, crime, neiman marcus, Tech, theft, U.S.