OT: Geeks.com hacked

craftech wrote on 1/9/2008, 5:16 AM
I thought I would post this because not everyone is getting the e-mail from Geeks.

"If you bought anything from Geeks.com in at least the last year or so, you might want to start paying close attention to your credit card statements—the company sent out an email on Friday telling former customers that they "recently discovered on December 5, 2007 that customer information, including Visa credit card information, may have been compromised."

Genica Corporation dba Geeks.com 1890 Ord Way Oceanside, CA 92056 January 4, 2008
[address redacted]

Dear [name redacted]

The purpose of this letter is to notify you that Genica dba Geeks.com ("Genica") recently discovered on December 5, 2007 that customer information, including Visa credit card information, may have been compromised. In particular, it is possible that an unauthorized person may be in possession of your name, address, telephone number, email address, credit card number, expiration date, and card verification number. We are still investigating the details of this incident, but it appears that an unauthorized individual may have accessed this information by hacking our eCommerce website.

We take this breach of our data seriously, and we deeply regret that this incident has occurred. We immediately reported this crime to local law enforcement authorities, as well as the Secret Service and other federal authorities. We also reported the incident to Visa. We have engaged an outside, nationally recognized security firm to determine how this incident occurred and to confirm that information we obtain is protected to the fullest extent reasonably possible.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to review your Visa credit card account statements and to monitor your credit reports as provided below. To assist you, Genica has taken the following steps:

We have set up a toll-free, call-in number to assist you with questions or concerns you may have related to this incident. All questions should be directed to 1-888-529-6261 or 1-212-560-5108 for non-US recipients.
PLEASE NOTE: These numbers will be active beginning on Tuesday, January 9, 2008.

We have provided names and contact information for the three major U.S. credit bureaus below. At no charge, you can have the agency place a "fraud alert" on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however, that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, or should you have any questions regarding your credit report, please contact any one of the agencies listed below.
Agency Toll-Free Website
Experian 888-397-3742 www.experian.com
Equifax 800-525-6285 www.equifax.com
TransUnion 800-680-7289 www.transunion.com

You are also entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228. For additional information on how to further protect yourself against identity theft, you may wish to visit the web site of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft, or, for California residents, the web site of the California Office of Privacy Protection at www.privacy.ca.gov.
Again, we deeply regret this incident and any inconvenience or concern it may cause you. We are working diligently to investigate and resolve the matter.
Sincerely,

Jerry L. Harken
Chief of Security
Genica Corporation
DBA: Geeks.com
assistance.RemoveThis@geeks.com "


Thought you all should know. My suggestion would be to put a credit freeze (if your state allows that) or a fraud alert on your credit file.

John


Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/9/2008, 6:31 AM
Have you contacted geeks.com to confirm this? Asking because I've been with them for years, go no e-mail & the website says absolutely nothing. I bought something from them last week.
craftech wrote on 1/9/2008, 7:49 AM
Have you contacted geeks.com to confirm this? Asking because I've been with them for years, go no e-mail & the website says absolutely nothing. I bought something from them last week.
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Yes. I called customer service and they confirmed this. As I said, not everyone has received the letter and they also acknowledged that as well. That is why I posted this.

John
TheHappyFriar wrote on 1/9/2008, 1:44 PM
ok, just making sure it wasn't one of those spam -"your account at place X was hacked" warnings.

It's just proof that little "hacker safe" "sticker" on pages is 110% useless. :)
craftech wrote on 1/10/2008, 9:03 PM
ok, just making sure it wasn't one of those spam -"your account at place X was hacked" warnings.

It's just proof that little "hacker safe" "sticker" on pages is 110% useless. :)
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I watched the hearings on C-Span 3 regarding identity theft. Most common besides lost ID in wallets are employees working for the telecoms who are stealing info from the databases followed by employees working for all other types of companies. Even the hearing on pretexting revealed that after the rather lengthy telephone surveys designed to find out who your cable and cell phone providers were along with your name, the scammers had insiders in those companies who could then access your personal data. Of course the regular networks would never cover such things. Makes the telecoms look bad as well as the party that prevents legislation from being enacted to project YOU first and the corporations second through Senate filibuster and a threat of presidential veto.

John