You can keep your "rewards" cards!! Kroger Customer Deeply Concerned About Epsilon Security BreachJeanne Rose Jeanne Rose – Mon Apr 4, 4:24 pm ET
COMMENTARY | The Los Angeles Times reports that Epsilon, an online marketing company that manages customer data for many major retail stores, was hacked into this past week. Some of the customer data that was compromised includes those who receive e-mails from Kroger, Best Buy, US Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Walgreens. It was reported that only customer e-mail addresses and names were hacked into.
Unfortunately, I am one of millions affected by this security breach.
I am a longtime customer of Kroger, so when I received my Kroger Savings Card over six years ago, I gave them my personal information thinking it would be kept confidential. I signed up for the Kroger e-mails because they alert me to special savings going on in my area and also alert me of promotions going on within the company.
I received an e-mail this weekend alerting me of the security breach but it assured me that only names and e-mail addresses were exposed -- I find that hard to believe. I do not see how the breach only affects names and e-mail addresses in the customer database when there is a lot of sensitive information tied to your Kroger account.
The e-mail also said that I might receive spam e-mails and not to open anything I am not familiar with, which is currently what I do anyway when it comes to protecting my computer from malware. I always get a lot of spam e-mails due to the various free samples I sign up for through websites, so honestly I doubt I would notice a few more in my spam folder each day, but it will definitely have me on high alert. I am now going to be suspicious of any e-mail that comes from Kroger because I will not be able to tell a legitimate e-mail from a spam message.
I am very concerned about this security breach with Kroger because I have given them basically all of my personal information in order to link my Kroger account so I could download coupons digitally. I know that Kroger has my name, age, phone number, Kroger Savings Card number, address, and e-mail address. This is a huge security risk because even if someone only has a name and e-mail address, there are plenty of ways they can find out who you are. Most people who sign up for an e-mail account give information such as their city or state, so someone could easily figure out where you live. I am deeply concerned that the sensitive information I gave Kroger in order to better my service with the company will lead to spam e-mails and maybe even telemarketing calls.
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