Gamestop.com Investigating Possible Breach
Video game giant GameStop Corp. [NSYE: GME] says it is investigating reports that hackers may have siphoned credit card and customer data from its website — gamestop.com. The company acknowledged the investigation after being contacted by KrebsOnSecurity.
“GameStop recently received notification from a third party that it believed payment card data from cards used on the GameStop.com website was being offered for sale on a website,” a company spokesman wrote in response to questions from this author.
“That day a leading security firm was engaged to investigate these claims. Gamestop has and will continue to work non-stop to address this report and take appropriate measures to eradicate any issue that may be identified,” the company’s statement continued.
Two sources in the financial industry told KrebsOnSecurity that they have received alerts from a credit card processor stating that Gamestop.com was likely compromised by intruders between mid-September 2016 and the first week of February 2017.
Those same sources said the compromised data is thought to include customer card number, expiration date, name, address and card verification value (CVV2), usually a 3-digit security code printed on the backs of credit cards.
Online merchants are not supposed to store CVV2 codes, but hackers can steal the codes by placing malicious software on a company’s e-commerce site, so that the data is copied and recorded by the intruders before the data is encrypted and transmitted to be processed.
GameStop would not comment on the possible timeframe of the suspected breach, or say what types of customer data might be impacted.
Based in Grapevine, Texas, GameStop generated more than $8.6 billion in revenue in 2016, although it’s unclear how much of that came through the company’s Web site. GameStop operates more than 7,000 retail stores through the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. There is currently no indication that the company’s retail store locations may have been affected.
According to Web site statistics firm Alexa.com, Gamestop.com is the 269th most popular Web site in the United States.
“We regret any concern this situation may cause for our customers,” Game Stop said in its statement. “GameStop would like to remind its customers that it is always advisable to monitor payment card account statements for unauthorized charges. If you identify such a charge, report it immediately to the bank that issued the card because payment card network rules generally state that cardholders are not responsible for unauthorized charges that are timely reported.”
Source: krebsonsecurity.com