Business & Tech

South Suburban Michaels Stores Targeted in Data Breach

If you shopped at the Orland Park, Tinley Park or New Lenox stores on the following dates, the company says your information was exposed.

Michaels, the latest in a string of national retailers to be hit by a data breach, has released a list of stores impacted.

The Michaels stores in New Lenox, Tinley Park and Orland Park are among them.

The list also includes dates that the arts and crafts retailer says customers' information was exposed.

The New Lenox location (2374 E. Lincoln Hwy), Orland Park location (15102 S. La Grange Rd.) and Tinley Park location (7310 191st St.) were all targeted from May 8 through July 29, 2013.

When the data breach was made public in late Janurary, the CEO of the Texas-based company, Chuck Rubin, issued a statement that read, in part:

"We recommend that you remain vigilant by reviewing your account statements for unauthorized charges. If you believe your payment card may have been affected, you should immediately contact your bank or card issuer." 

Like other retailers that have been hit with a data breach,including Target, Michaels was working with federal law enforcement and third-party security experts to determine the origin and scope of the breach.

"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," Rubin said, in a statement issued last week.

Among the findings of Michaels' investigation are:

  • The affected systems contained certain payment card information, such as payment card number and expiration date, about both Michaels and Aaron Brothers customers. There is no evidence that other customer personal information, such as name, address or PIN, was at risk in connection with this issue.

  • Regarding Michaels stores, the attack targeted a limited portion of the point-of-sale systems at a varying number of stores between May 8, 2013 and January 27, 2014. Only a small percentage of payment cards used in the affected stores during the times of exposure were impacted by this issue. The analysis conducted by the security firms and the Company shows that approximately 2.6 million cards may have been impacted, which represents about 7% of payment cards used at Michaels stores in the U.S. during the relevant time period. The locations and potential dates of exposure for each affected Michaels store are listed on www.michaels.com.

  • Regarding Aaron Brothers, the Company has confirmed that between June 26, 2013 and February 27, 2014, 54 Aaron Brothers stores were affected by this malware. The Company estimates that approximately 400,000 cards were potentially impacted during this period. The locations for each affected Aaron Brothers store are listed on www.aaronbrothers.com.

  • The Company has received a limited number of reports from the payment card brands and banks of fraudulent use of payment cards potentially connected to Michaels or Aaron Brothers.

"While we have received limited reports of fraud, we are offering identity protection and credit monitoring services to affected Michaels and Aaron Brothers customers in the U.S. for 12 months at no cost to them," Rubin said. "We also are offering these customers a fraud assistance service for 12 months at no cost to them. This service provides customers with a trained representative to assist them in the event they experience a fraud-related issue resulting from this incident. Information on the services can be found here."


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