And next with the data breach: Michaels Stores Inc. The Texas-based arts-and-crafts chain, the largest in the nation, announced Thursday the personal information of some 3 million customers may have been stolen between June 26, 2013 and Feb. 27, 2014. You read those dates correctly.
That’s more bad news for shoppers, who are still reeling from the massive data breach at Target over the holidays, and others reported by retailers — and the University of Maryland— nationwide.
The Michaels breach also affected the company’s affiliate, Aaron Brothers, a rental store chain, Michaels executives said, according to our own affiliate, the Dallas Business Journal.
“After weeks of analysis, we have discovered evidence confirming that systems of Michaels stores in the United States and our subsidiary, Aaron Brothers, were attacked by criminals using highly sophisticated malware that had not been encountered previously by either of the security firms,” Michaels CEO Chuck Rubin said in a letter sent to customers Thursday. “We want you to know we have identified and fully contained the incident, and we can assure you the malware no longer presents a threat to customers while shopping at Michaels or Aaron Brothers.”
The company is working with two independent security firms and federal law enforcement authorities — read the Secret Service — in the investigation of the theft.
