Technology giant Acer has fallen victim to cyber criminals. The company reportedly revealed in a letter to California authorities that its US E Commerce website was breached and the customer data was compromised over the last year. According to the report of Yahoo! Tech, Acer revealed in its report that customer credentials including names, addresses, payment card numbers, expiry dates, and three-digit security codes, were stolen.
However, details of the nature of the attack which occurred between May 12, 2015 and April 28, 2016 were not provided.There is no evidence that usernames or passwords were stolen or compromised during the unauthorized third party access. The company has not confirmed how many people are potentially affected.
“We do not collect Social Security numbers, and we have not identified evidence indicating that password or login credentials were affected,” the data breach notification letter reads, which is attributed to Acer’s vice president of customer service Mark Groveunder.
Acer has asked all its customers to keep a watch on their account statements for irregularities. “If you suspect that you are a victim of identity theft or fraud, you have the right to file a police report. In addition, you may contact your State Attorney General’s office or the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to learn about steps you can take to protect yourself against identity theft,” said Groveunder in the letter.
The letter continues to explain that Acer is working with an outside cybersecurity firm to investigate the incident, is cooperating with federal law enforcement, and has notified the relevant payment card providers. According to the Yahoo! Tech report, a cybersecurity firm has been hired by the company to probe the hack and relevant payment card providers have been alerted.
“We value the trust you place in us. We regret this incident occurred, and we will be working hard to enhance our security,” said Groveunder.