Neiman Marcus Suffers Holiday Credit Card Breach

Data breach further reveals vulnerabilities in magnetic strip cards.

January 14, 2014

DETROIT and NEW YORK – Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus announced last weekend that it suffered a data breach over the holiday shopping period, CBS Detroit and Bloomberg report.

The announcement comes less than one month after Target announced its massive data breach —the recent tally is in excess of 100 million customer cards — between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Security experts said the hacking fallout will impact the way consumers shop.

“It gives you the feeling that credit cards are not safe anyplace, said Walter Loeb, president of retail consulting firm Loeb Associates. “People are going to be more careful about how they spend their money.”

In the meantime, Target’s data breach has already had a profound effect on its bottom-line. Sales at its U.S. stores were “meaningfully weaker” after the data theft was reported, the company said, with same-store sales expected to fall 2.5% in the quarter through January.

The news by Neiman Marcus is expected to reignite calls for the U.S. to catch up to the rest of the world in securing financial information. Transitioning from magnetic strips to chips embedded in cards is one step that experts see as critical.

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