The checklist of consumers affected by the Epsilon database breach continues to grow.
The breach,
Windows 7 Activation, which happened very last week but was announced about the weekend, compromised the e-mail addresses and a few names belonging towards the customers of many key U.S. companies that outsource their marketing and e-mail communications to Epsilon.
The organization mentioned Monday that two percent of the companies it counts as clients are affected by the security breach. There is absolutely no official list of affected businesses which is obtainable, plus a firm spokesperson stated Epsilon can not release the names of its customers. Epsilon is from the midst of conducting an investigation of what led for the security breach.
The listing of Epsilon customers whose customer e-mail addresses were stolen just isn't total, and it is probably to expand. But up to now Target, Kroger, TiVo, US Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Citi, House Shopping Network, Ameriprise Economic, LL Bean Visa Card,
Microsoft Office Pro 2007, McKinsey & Business, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, Marriott Rewards, New York & Company, Brookstone, Walgreens, The College Board, Disney Destinations, and Best Buy have notified their own buyers about the breach. Hilton Hotels and Ethan Allen are also stated to be impacted.
Here are some tips on what to do if you did receive an e-mail from one of the organizations above or if you believe 1 of them does have your e-mail or name,
Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate, and what could happen next.
How do you know if you're affected? If you've ever given your e-mail address to any from the above companies, you probably are.
What will happen? Most from the firms that are talking about it say the information that was stolen is limited to e-mail addresses and possibly names. Credit card companies and banks like Chase and Cash One particular say they do not believe any fiscal information was compromised.
But a bunch of e-mail addresses within the wrong hands means what's probable to result is a rise in phishing scams. "Phishing" is an attempt to use e-mail to try to get you to reveal more personal information about yourself. This can include usernames, passwords, Social Protection numbers, or account numbers.
Many times phishers are simply guessing and will pick an organization that a broad group of people does business with, like PayPal, or a government entity, like the IRS. The threat inside the Epsilon case is now whoever gets access to these lists of e-mail addresses knows exactly what businesses count you as a client. That means phishing attempts can be much more targeted and therefore potentially harder to spot because they can masquerade as being from a lender or company such as the ones listed above.
What should you do about it? Do not open e-mail from someone you don't know. Which is pretty simple. But you'll also need to be extra vigilant now that phishers may know specifically where you shop,
Buy Office 2007, what airline you fly, or where you bank. Look at the e-mail address--if it's purportedly from a single of the companies above but ends in something other than .com, especially an international domain like .uk, that's a good indication it's a scam since most phishing attempts originate outside the U.S. Also be on the lookout for spelling errors inside the e-mail address, URL, or body with the e-mail, or e-mails whose tone sounds particularly urgent.
If you do open the e-mail, don't click any links. A common phishing practice is to ask people to click a link to update their personal information.
If in doubt,
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, call the organization If you get an e-mail from one particular of the organizations listed above asking for any information, and you're unsure if it's legitimate, you can always call them. Many retailers affected through the Epsilon breach are notifying their customers now that they would never ask for sensitive information via e-mail.
Additional resources You can forward suspected phishing e-mails to reportphishing@antiphishing.org and spam@uce.gov.
For more information about how to avoid phishing scams, see an FAQ by CNET's Elinor Mills here.