Supermarket chain brings in the big guns to prevent identity theft

Posted by Caitlin on August 26th, 2009

Hannaford, a midsize supermarket chain, was one of the many corporations that fell victim to Albert Gonzalez's large and sophisticated hacking operation. Gonzalez's hack exposed millions of credit and debit card numbers, and Hannaford has responded by going above and beyond to protect customers from a similar breach in the future. For starters, the company has hired General Dynamics, a premier cyber security contractor for the Department of Defense, to upgrade its security infrastructure. Upgrades include a network monitoring service from IBM that provides instant alerts of "intrusive traffic," as well as the highest level of PIN number encryption available and new intrusion prevention systems. While Hannaford can't claim that the new security measures are infallable, using a debit or credit card at a Hanaford supermarket is certainly more secure than it was when Gonzalez's team hacked int o the network in 2007.

Hannaford's dedication to securing customers' sensitive data is admirable, and should be emulated by other corporations. But unfortunately, most retailers are less vigilent, and hackers are always working to find new chinks in the armor. Which is why, for the time being, identity theft protection is still a very wise and worthwhile investment.