Hannaford supermarkets yesterday said it has upgraded its security system after a massive security breach.
The company will now encrypt credit and debit card information held in its network and has installed an IBM detection service to identify potential fraud, according to a statement. The cost of the change, the encryption portion of which will take two to three months to implement, is “millions of dollars,” the Portland Press Herald quoted Hannaford Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Bill Homa as saying.
Hannaford was made aware on Feb. 27 that data thieves had cracked into its system starting in December. By March 17, when the company told the public, some 1,800 cards had been fraudulently charged and 4.2 million had been exposed. The breach ended March 10.
