Neiman Marcus in-store shoppers at risk of financial fraud

The high-end retailer confirms it is investigating a cyber incident that exposed an unknown number of client payment cards.

Krebs said he began hearing earlier this week from banking industry sources about an increasing number of fraudulent charges that were being traced to cards very recently used at physical stores run by the chain.

The company on 1/10 acknowledged a hack was uncovered by a third-party in mid-December 2013. Neiman Marcus’s credit card processor told the retailer about potentially unauthorized card activity that occurred following customer purchases at stores.

On 1/1, a forensics firm found evidence the company was the victim of a criminal intrusion and that some customers’ cards were possibly compromised as a result.

Krebs writes: “Neiman Marcus spokesperson Ginger Reeder said the company does not yet know the cause, size or duration of the breach, noting that these are details being sought by a third-party forensics firm which has yet to complete its investigation. But she said there is no evidence that shoppers who purchased from the company’s online stores were affected by this breach.”

She said the company is taking steps, where possible, to notify customers whose cards were used fraudulently.

The disclosure comes as many consumers and merchants are seeking information about the causes of a breach at Target, which extended from around Thanksgiving 2013 to Dec. 15, 2013.

Neiman Marcus officials said they have no indication right now that the breach at its stores is related to the Target incident.

ThreatWatch is a regularly updated catalog of data breaches successfully striking every sector of the globe, as reported by journalists, researchers and the victims themselves.