The Shoprite Group says it became aware of a suspected data compromise, impacting on a specific sub-set of data and which may affect some customers, who engaged in money transfers to and within Eswatini and within Namibia and Zambia.
“Affected customers will receive an SMS to the cell number supplied at the time of the transaction,” the company said.
“An investigation was immediately launched with forensic experts and other data security professionals to establish the origin, nature, and scope of this incident.
“Additional security measures to protect against further data loss were implemented by amending authentication processes and fraud prevention and detection strategies to protect customer data.
“Access to affected areas of the network has also been locked down. The data compromise included names and ID numbers, but no financial information or bank account numbers.”
Shoprite said that it has notified the Information Regulator.
“Investigations are on-going. The Group is not aware of any misuse or publication of customer data that may have been acquired, however, web monitoring relating to the incident continues,” the company said.
It added that there is a possibility that the impacted customer data may be used by the unauthorised party and customers are advised to follow these precautionary measures:
- Do not disclose personal information such as passwords and PINs when asked to do so by anyone via telephone, SMS or email.
- Change passwords regularly and never share them with anyone else.
- Verify all requests for personal information and only provide it when there is a legitimate reason to do so.
“Should any unauthorised activity be detected, customers should immediately notify the Group or relevant authorities,” the company advised.
“The Group sincerely apologises to those affected. Customers with any questions or concerns may contact 0800 01 07 09 or email consumer@shoprite.co.za.“