Albertsons Grocery Stores in Southern California Hacked

Thanks to government, all of your medical records must be on a computer, in “the cloud” so medical professionals anywhere in the world can see them. A couple of days ago we found out that Chinese hackers took over 4.5 MILLION medical records. We know that Target had millions of customers accounts hacked. There is no reason for passwords on accounts, since someone ten thousand miles away can easily get into your computer in the middle of the night—or the computers of the U.S. government (Ed Snowden).

Now our computerized records from grocery stores have been compromised. Albertsons, a major Southern California chain (they also just bought Safeway/Von’s) has been hacked by the Chinese. The Chinese have more intimate information on you than your spouse or significant other!

Another payment card hack! Albertson’s, SuperValu and more hit

Kim Komando, 8/19/14

Albertson’s and SuperValu announced that hackers breached their systems over the weekend. It’s important to keep in mind that Albertson’s and SuperValu include a massive number of stores under their umbrella, including:

Jewel-Osco
Shaw’s
Star Market
Hornbacher’s
Farm Fresh
Shop ‘N Save
Shoppers Food & Pharmacy

If you’ve shopped at any of these stories, then you should probably be worried about this massive data breach. I wasn’t surprised to discover that both grocery conglomerates have been cagey with the details.

Here’s what I’ve figured out so far: Hackers broke into both store’s sales systems, but it isn’t known whether or not they successfully stole information. SuperValu’s break-in affected 228 stores between June 22 and July 17. Albertson hasn’t said how many stores were actually attacked, but estimates that 700 were hit.

CNN Money broke down who should be most worried about the breach geographically:

That includes every Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Market — plus all Albertson’s stores in Southern California, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Southern Utah.

So if you live in any of these states, you’ll definitely want to check out my how-to guide for what to do if your credit card information might have been compromised. Even if you don’t think that your card was compromised, you should also read my tip on where NOT to swipe your credit card to keep your personal information safe.