Vans claims cyber crooks didn't run off with its customers' financial info

Clothing and footwear giant VF Corporation is letting 35.5 million of its customers know they may find themselves victims of identity theft following last year's security breach. In an email to customers, the Vans and North Face parent promised that crooks didn't swipe their credit card or bank account details.  And, it added …

[Kev99]

Yup, let's put our proprietary, confidential, business critical data out on the bunch of holes held together with string / vapor. It's perfectly sfe and secure. Besides. it's FREE.

[MachDiamond]

Data is money

Even if no banking/financial details are exposed, a big list of names, addresses and phone numbers are still very handy. For a Big Data company, it could be a more current data point for their file on somebody. The sorts of brands people buy is also a data point when it's correlated with other information.

I've tried to make sure I'm not putting data out there about me at all. That includes paying cash for most things. I have a long trip planned in future and, other than two campground reservations that had to to paid with plastic due to demand for those dates, I'll be paying for things like petrol and food with cash. Since I paid well in advance for the camp sites and the charge likely doesn't show the dates I'll be there, it's better than paying with something traceable on the date I show up. I also have a buffer in case the cards get switched off which has happened before while I was on a trip when I carry cash. I'm not bothered by network outages either. If the petrol station has power, I can likely refuel.

[Gene Cash]

Re: Data is money

> in case the cards get switched off which has happened before while I was on a trip

Yeah, JP Morgan Chase did this to me when I visited my parents. Twice in a month. They also did it to me when I changed jobs to a neighboring city. After they did it 3 times in 2 weeks, despite me calling about it, I'm no longer a Chase account holder.

Also, a lot of restaurants and other places here are cash-only, because they're small businesses and the credit card companies have started to gouge the hell out of them.

[simonlb]

Re: Data is money

Irrespective of the company and how they keep track of how you've paid, why aren't your customer details also kept in an encrypted database and not just your payment details. Surely having this data across two encrypted databases is much safer than having your personal data in clear text?

I'm not a cybersecurity expert but this just makes sense, although I've never seen a report of a data breach which says all the details were encrypted, only the financial ones.

[Winkypop]

And it added…

“there's "no evidence" suggesting any stolen personal info, including names, emails, addresses, and phone numbers, has been used for nefarious purposes.”

So, it’s all good then?

The double-speak is strong in this marketing droid.

[CowHorseFrog]

Why does a shoe company need to track or ask for customer names and more ?

The stasi would be proud of american compamnies like this.

[Shteve]

You don't think a company selling products to individuals needs to know their names and addresses? FWIW I had this email from Timberland this morning, and it likely explains why I've had a large increase in phishing emails over the last few months.

[CowHorseFrog]

No.

they shouldnt be storing these details permanently.