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The online outage that affected Hannaford customers across New England last fall has been confirmed to be a data breach that might have compromised some personal information.Officials with Hannaford’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize USA Services, LLC, said the issue put the personal information for some employees and their beneficiaries at risk, including Social Security numbers, financial information and contact information.>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <
MANCHESTER, N.H. —
The online outage that affected Hannaford customers across New England last fall has been confirmed to be a data breach that might have compromised some personal information.
Officials with Hannaford’s parent company, Ahold Delhaize USA Services, LLC, said the issue put the personal information for some employees and their beneficiaries at risk, including Social Security numbers, financial information and contact information.
>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <<
Company officials said they are notifying people who might have been affected. They said the types of impacted information vary based on the person.
On its website, Hannaford’s parent company said it launched an investigation after discovering a cybersecurity issue last November.
“Based on this review, the company has determined that an unauthorized third party obtained certain files from some of our internal U.S. file repositories that may have contained the personal information of certain individuals,” the company said in a statement.
It’s unclear how many people are affected. Hannaford has 36 locations in the Granite State.
“All it takes is that one click to ruin the day for millions of people,” Gary Miliefsky, Cyber Defense Media Group CEO, said. “It’s really employee information and it’s a lot of information that will then be sold on the dark web.”
Miliefsky said there are some things Granite Staters should do to stay vigilant.
“If you’re a shopper, it’s probably OK to shop at these stores now, but keep an eye out. Don’t use a debit card. Never use a debit card because when the money’s stolen on a debit card, you don’t get it back. if you’re a shopper and you’re nervous, you know, this seems like it’s contained to be employee breach, which could also be the families of employees,” Miliefsky said.
Miliefsky also said it’s a good idea for consumers to keep an eye on their credit score and use identity protection software.
For those who have been affected in this breach, Ahold Delhaize is giving two years of free credit monitoring.
