Shoprite Group suffers cyberattack, sensitive info affected

The Shoprite Group said on June 11 it had become aware of a data leak, including names and ID numbers, which affect customers who engaged in money transfers to and within Eswatini and within Namibia and Zambia.

Affected customers will receive an SMS to the cell number supplied at the time of the transaction. An investigation was immediately launched with forensic experts and other data security professionals to establish the origin, nature, and scope of this incident.

Additional security measures to protect against further data loss were implemented by amending authentication processes and fraud prevention and detection strategies to protect customer data. Access to affected areas of the network has also been locked down. The data compromise included names and ID numbers, but no financial information or bank account numbers.

The group is not aware of any misuse or publication of customer data that may have been acquired, however web monitoring relating to the incident continues.

The Shoprite Group said that investigations are on-going and it had notified the information regulator and the data security incident involved a “specific sub-set of data”.

The group also sincerely apologized to all affected customers.

Cancer research center Fred Hutchinson Cancer also reported a data breach.