Save-On-Foods Notifies More Rewards Members After Cybersecurity Breach
Western Canadian grocery chain Save-On-Foods has informed members of its More Rewards loyalty program that their personal information was accessed during a cybersecurity breach discovered on October 13. The compromised data includes names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and dates of birth, though no credit card information or passwords were affected.
Save-On-Foods, a Western Canadian grocery chain, has notified members of its More Rewards loyalty program that their personal information was accessed during a cybersecurity breach. The company discovered unauthorized activity on one of its servers on October 13 and stated that the incident was quickly contained.
According to the notification, the accessed information included customers' names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and dates of birth. Based on available information, no other personal information, such as credit card data or passwords, was compromised during the breach. Save-On-Foods did not disclose how many customers were affected. CBC News asked the company for the number of impacted individuals but did not receive a figure by deadline.
Cybersecurity experts have warned that the exposed data could be used to facilitate convincing phishing attacks impersonating trusted organizations. Richard Frank, director of Simon Fraser University’s international cybercrime centre, noted that most break-ins are opportunistic and often start with employees clicking malicious links.
In response to the incident, Save-On-Foods stated it will not send communications asking customers for passwords, banking information, payment information, social insurance numbers, or security question answers. Some customers reported recurring errors when trying to change passwords after receiving the notifications, while others expressed frustration regarding discount systems that require personal information through loyalty programs.