Email addresses stolen from CurrentC
(LiveHacking.Com) – CurrentC has notified its users about a security breach which enabled hackers to steal the email addresses of some of its pilot program participants. According to a statement released by the company, “many of these email addresses are dummy accounts used for testing purposes only.” It went on to say that, “the CurrentC app itself was not affected.”
CurrentC is a mobile wallet rival to Apple’s new mobile payment system. It is a free downloadable app that lets customers securely save, earn participating merchant loyalty rewards and pay across a growing network of merchants which includes Target, Walmart, Old Navy, Shell, and Best Buy.
The Merchant Customer Exchange (MCX), the alliance of retailers behind CurrentC, said it had notified its merchant partners about the incident and directly communicated with each of the individuals whose email addresses were involved. It then went on to offer the normal platitudes, “we take the security of our users’ information extremely seriously. MCX is continuing to investigate this situation and will provide updates as necessary.”
The problem is that such a incident can severely damage the reputation of a company which is supposed to be offering a secure payment system. The thinking of many consumers will be, “if CurrentC can’t look after my email address, how can I trust it with my bank details!”
According to iTnews, some experts are trying to play down the incident. “The service was hacked and emails were lost. That distinction is important as a breach contains access to financial data and this hack contains mostly just personal information,” Chris Morales, practice manager of architecture and infrastructure at NSS Labs, said in a statement.
Time will tell if consumers agree with Morales or not.
Gloss