Pattison Food Group says More Rewards customer details were accessed in breach
The grocery group says names and some contact details and dates of birth were accessed. It has not disclosed how many customers were affected.
Pattison Food Group says personal information in its More Rewards loyalty database was accessed after it detected unusual activity on a server on October 13. The British Columbia grocery group confirmed the access on October 16, leaving customers to assess possible misuse of their contact details while the number affected remains undisclosed.
The company said the accessed information included customer names and, where customers had provided them, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and dates of birth. Based on the information available to it, Pattison said passwords, credit card data and transaction history were not accessed, and that More Rewards accounts remained secure. Those limits reflect the company's assessment of the incident.
What Pattison Food Group told customers
Pattison said it shut down the server after discovering the unusual activity and brought in a third-party cybersecurity expert. The Vancouver Sun reported that an email sent to customers on October 16 said the incident had been contained and that the company was notifying authorities and privacy regulators.
The Vancouver Sun reported that the company forwarded that customer email when asked for more information on October 17. It did not answer the newspaper's questions about the breach's scope or whether credit card numbers or transaction history could potentially have been accessed through the affected servers. Pattison has not said how many customers were affected.
Which stores use More Rewards
More Rewards is the loyalty program used at Save-On-Foods, Buy-Low Foods, PriceSmart Foods and Nesters stores, according to Global News. The incident therefore concerns information held in a customer program used across several of Pattison's grocery chains, though the company has not broken down affected customers by store or chain.
Castanet reported that More Rewards advised customers to be cautious about requests for sensitive information and to avoid unverified links. The Vancouver Sun reported that the company said it would not contact customers to request verification codes, banking details or payment card information. Customers receiving a request of that kind were advised to check it using contact details they know are legitimate, rather than details in the request itself.
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Sources and context
- More Rewards customer data accessed in cybersecurity breach, Pattison Food Group saysGlobal News
- Data breach of More Rewards customer informationCastanet
- Save-On-Foods rewards system breached by hackersVancouver Sun
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.