While most of these companies are understandably mum on how many customers might be at risk, it’s not inconceivable that millions of users’ information may have been accessed by an unauthorized party.
Epsilon, a digital marketing firm that does a fair amount of email marketing, notified its clients Friday that “an unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s email system” had occurred. The firm stated at the time that the compromised data “was limited to email addresses and/or customer names only. A rigorous assessment determined that no other personal identifiable information associated with those names was at risk.”
By yesterday, we knew the names of a handful of affected clients. However, we are learning today that the data breach applies to some of the largest names in retail, including Target and Best Buy. Anyone who has signed up for or opted into email or other digital marketing campaigns from these companies may have had their name and email address or addresses accessed by an unknown party.
According to an email from Target, “Epsilon took immediate action to close the vulnerability and notified law enforcement.”
However, Target and other companies are now notifying customers whose information was compromised that their email addresses and names may now be in unsafe hands and is asking customers to exercise care when opening and responding to email.
The entire list of companies whose customers’ data has been accessed is unknown, but we’ll list the ones we know about below. We’ll add more names as they become available. If you received an email that your information may have been compromised due to the Epsilon breach, please do let us know in the...
