UPS is the latest victim of an in-store data breach

Joining a long list of US based brands which were attacked, logistics and shipping firm UPS announced it to has fallen victim to a cyber-attack, compromising card data at 51 of its locations.

The stolen data is said to include Names, postal and email addresses and payment card information of UPS store customers. No exact number on how many cards were hit by the attack has been made available as of yet.

According to a UPS spokesperson, internal anti-virus software was unable to detect the malware which infected the card terminals. The shipping company was made aware of the attack after it received a bulletin from the government stating so, along with “many other US retailers”.

UPS joins Target, Neiman Marcus, and P.F. Chang’s, whom also lost sensitive card data to in-store cyber stacks this past year. On a grand scale, the attack affected around 1% of UPS’ 4470 store locations spread throughout the US. While not as massive as Target’s 40 million compromised cards, it does show how vulnerable large brands are to cyberattacks.

“As soon as we became aware of the potential malware intrusion, we deployed extensive resources to quickly address and eliminate this issue. Our customers can be assured that we have identified and fully contained the incident," UPS president Tim Davis stated to the press on the attack.

This attack among other in-store terminals attacks are now speeding up the distribution of Pin&Chip-EMV protected cards. A move, while beneficial to the physical retail space is expected to be dreadful to the online payment sector.