More than 50 companies including major brands, hotels and banks have been victims of a security breach earlier this week. The sad part is that the true victims of this incident are the millions of consumers who’s names and email addresses were hacked through an unauthorized entry in Epsilon’s system.
Epsilon is the world’s largest email marketing services company based in Texas that sends promotional emails to over 40 billion companies a year such as JPMorgan & Chase, TiVo, Walgreen Co., Walt Disney Co., Best Buy and Citi. The security breach was first realized by Kroger, then the list of extended to other companies as well such as Target, Best Buy, Walgreen’s, Capital One, Home Shopping Network, US Bank, Home Shopping Network, Brookstore and LL Bean, among many others. Records of hotel rewards programs such as Hilton, Ritz-Carlton and Marriott were likewise compromised by the incident.
This situation will not only lead to more spam emails and phishing schemes but it will put many people at risk as well. Although a thorough assessment conducted by Epsilon and the authorities reported that only the customers’ name and email addresses were hacked, we still cannot be sure if this is entirely true. Spammers and other unauthorized parties that have a confirmed list of email address will have more success targeting victims.
Most of the companies affected have already notified their customers on the unfortunate situation to take all the necessary precaution.
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