Retailer Neiman Marcus said that thieves stole some of its customers' payment card information and made unauthorized charges over the holiday season.
Ginger Reeder, spokeswoman for Dallas-based Neiman Marcus Group Ltd., said in an email that the retailer had been notified in mid-December by its credit card processor about potentially unauthorized payment activity following customer purchases at stores, said AP. On Jan. 1, a forensics firm confirmed evidence that the upscale retailer was a victim of a criminal cyber-security intrusion and that some customers' credit and debit cards were possibly compromised as a result, said AP.
Reeder wouldn't estimate how many customers may be affected but said the merchant is notifying customers whose cards it now knows were used fraudulently. Neiman Marcus, which operates more than 40 upscale stores and clearance stores, is working with the Secret Service on the breach, said AP.
"We have begun to contain the intrusion and have taken significant steps to further enhance information security," Reeder wrote.
An independent security expert says that the NSA could turn iPhones into eavesdropping tools and use radar wave devices to harvest electronic information from computer even if they weren't online.
The Washington Post acknowledged that a sophisticated phishing attack against its newsroom reporters led to the hacking of its Web site, which was seeded with code that redirected readers to the Web site of the Syrian Electronic Army hacker group.