Chicagoland Barnes & Nobles among hacked stores

Major Chicago newspapers, Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, report the latest hacking scandal, this time at the popular bookstore chain, Barnes & Noble. Read about it here.

Barnes & Noble Inc. said Tuesday that devices used by customers to swipe credit and debit cards have been tampered with in 63 of its stores in nine states, including seven in Chicago and the surrounding area.

Photo by tnimalan at sxc.hu

Card swipers were outfitted to steal the credit and debit card numbers with pin combinations.  Obvious question is, who and how installed those devices?  You cannot trust your own employees these days?  Why do I care so much?  Because, I've purchased books and magazines in of those stores on several occasions!

But more pressing question is: why it took Barnes & Noble 5 weeks to release that information to the public?   They disconnected the swipers on September 14th, but knew about even earlier.  So much for letting loyal customers double check their statements and switch their cards in a timely manner.

Is convenience trumping the awareness and danger of the cashless society?  Not likely.  The crooks are just getting better at their game.  With a wide access to the latest online technology and sophisticated electronics, scamming people became an easy income source.

 Remember the Subway stores hacking scandal?  Fortunately, the black hats were caught.  Ars Technica reports about the investigation:

Two Romanian men have admitted to participating in an international conspiracy that hacked into credit-card payment terminals at more than 150 Subway restaurant franchises and stole data for more than 146,000 accounts. The heist, which spanned the years 2009 to 2011, racked up more than $10 million in losses, federal prosecutors said.

What can you do to protect your online activities and your credit/debit car info?
The big 4 include:

• Use stronger online passwords. Use my tips here.
• Use credit cards instead of debit cards whenever possible.  By law, you are only responsible for $50 or fraudulent purchases. 
• Replace your debit card if you think it was compromised.  I was able to replace my debit card in one of the Chicagoland Chase bank branches the same day the news broke out.  It took literally 5 minutes to print the card and setup new PIN.  On Chase website, look for a branch that "Offers Instant Debit Card Replacement".
• Use Radio-frequency identification (RFID) shield to protect your credit cards with RFID chips and the new RFID passports.  Even the simple credit card shield sleeve will protect you from the electronic pickpocket.  

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are coming up, following by the Kwanzaa-Hanukkah-Christmas shopping spree.  Stay aware you laptop Jedi knights with your plastic swords.  We don't want Luke to overcharge his father.