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According to investigation by KrebsOnSecurity, Home Depot has been a victim of the same type of security threat that affected Target, with credit card numbers stolen and put up for sale online. Time to check your statements.
Legendary investor Warren Buffett is pretty open about his financial advice and recommendations. And because of his massive success, people pay attention. Business Insider went through years of his interviews and shareholder letters and rounded up some of his best book recommendations.
Most of us know you should read something out loud when proofreading, but we may miss critical errors. We insert words we think are there, but aren't, because we wrote it. Using the text-to-speech function on your device will help prevent your internal autocorrect from missing errors.
When you go to a job interview, you might not be sure how to dress. Different companies, especially startups, have different dress codes. Check the online profiles of the employees to get an idea about the company's culture.
According to KrebsOnSecurity.com, which has been a few steps ahead of Home Depot on this entire story, the stolen Home Depot info currently on sale on the black market includes the information you’d expect — the card number, cardholder’s name — and it also contains the ZIP code for the store from which the information was stolen.
With some 2,200 stores in the U.S. alone, most people don’t have to travel far to find a Home Depot. That means there is a good chance that many Home Depot shoppers live in the same ZIP code as their store. Having that information, an ID thief versed in black market information can illegally purchase additional info like Social Security numbers and dates of birth.
So with all that information at their fingertips, an ID thief can try changing a card’s PIN using the automated customer service phone lines that many banks operate.
If a customer calls up and can provide almost all of the requested data about the account, he or she can change the PIN rather easily.
Automated systems generally check for four things:
1. The card’s expiration date;
2. The customer’s date of birth;
3. The last four digits of the customer’s Social Security number
4. The 3-digit code (known as a card verification value or CVV/CV2) printed on the back of the debit card.
This last item is the only piece of information not readily available to data thieves willing to spend a little money to potentially reap a lot of money from victims.
And Krebs says he’s been hearing about spikes in PIN-related ID theft since the Home Depot hack.
Like the New England bank that has seen $25,000 in PIN debit fraud at ATMs in Canada. Krebs’s source claims that the ID thieves were able to change the PINs on the cards using the bank’s automated system, which only required that they provide three of the four requested data points.
Then there is the bank on the West Coast that Krebs reports was hit with $300,000 in PIN fraud in just two hours, all from multiple debit card accounts that had been used recently at Home Depot.
Like the New England banks, having the customer’s SSN, DOB, and the card’s expiration date was enough to change the PIN.
Additionally, the callers told bank customer service reps that they were traveling abroad, which allowed them to take out more money from the ATMs than they would have been able to stateside. It presumably also turned off any red flags when those withdrawals were made from ATMs in Italy.
Home Depot has reassured customers that any fraudulent charges to credit or debit card users will be absorbed by either the customer’s bank or by the retailer. However, PIN-related fraud is always the hardest to prove, as it requires information that only the customer is supposed to have. Hopefully, banks will be looking with a wary eye at people who wish to change their PIN without all of the requested information about the account.
Annie’s is a 25-year-old company based in Berkeley, California that has its organic products everywhere from the shelves of health food stores to the checkout of Target. General Mills is 158-year-old company based in the Minneapolis area that owns familiar American brands like Cheerios cereal and Green Giant frozen vegetables. These companies are getting hitched, thanks to their shared love of the growing organic food market and money.
General Mills owns quite a few organic food brands already. They don’t make the ownership super-obvious on these products’ packaging because they’re not stupid, but Cascadian Farm, Muir Glen, and Larabar are familiar brands to health-food shoppers. Now the conglomerate can add Annie’s to its portfolio, and paid about 33% over the current share price of the publicly-traded Annie’s (stock ticker symbol: BNNY)
The acquisition adds more than $200 million in annual sales to an organic foods division that already takes in $330 million per year. Though all of those customers may not make the transition to General Mills. While the company says that it has no opposition to a unified nationwide GMO-free label, it opposes requiring companies to label products that do contain genetically modified ingredients, and also opposes state initiatives that could lead to a labeling headache for a large company that does business nationwide.
As anyone who has ever discussed food on the Internet knows, the potential presence of genetically modified organisms in their food (or in their food’s food, in the case of meat, dairy, and eggs) is a very important issue to a vocal minority of consumers, who are storming the Annie’s Facebook page as we speak.
The company is responding to all messages, which is nice. Here’s a sample reply to a person concerned about GMOs?
Hi all – We totally understand your concerns. There is no change in our stance on GMOs. We are committed to transparency around the topic of GMOs. Millions of consumers agree with Annie’s position around GMOs. We know that General Mills understands our commitment and the importance of our position on this issue to the authenticity of our brand. Hope you’ll stay a fan.
General Mills will pay $820M for Annie’s Homegrown organic foods [Twin Cities Business News]
General Mills Adds Organic Foods With Purchase of Annie’s [Bloomberg News]
In a statement, the retailer didn’t give an estimate of how many customers were affected, but said that shoppers who paid with their cards at Home Depot stores in the U.S. or Canada could have had their data compromised.
One slight sliver of good news for customers who shopped using their debit cards — Home Depot says that it believes that debit card PINs were not stolen.
However, considering how many debit cards can be used with solely the card number and other information from the magnetic stripe, all this really prevents are cash withdrawals from ATMs and retailers that offer cash-back to debit customers.
Home Depot is also not specifying what information was stolen by the hackers, though cards that have gone up for sale on an online black market appear to contain much of the relevant data you would need to create a fake card.
The company also didn’t put a precise timeline on the breach, but says its investigation goes back as far as April of this year. Considering that Home Depot operates more than 2,000 stores in the U.S. and that the spring and summer seasons are usually high-traffic times for home improvement stores, this breach will likely be significantly larger than the massive one that hit Target at the end of 2013.
For anyone that used their cards from April 2014 on, Home Depot is offering free identity protection services, including credit monitoring.
If you fall into that category, you can call 1-800-HOMEDEPOT (800-466-3337) or sign up online at https://homedepot.allclearid.com.
“We apologize for the frustration and anxiety this causes our customers, and I want to thank them for their patience and support as we work through this issue,” said Frank Blake, chairman and CEO of Home Depot, in a statement. “We owe it to our customers to alert them that we now have enough evidence to confirm that a breach has indeed occurred. It’s important to emphasize that no customers will be responsible for fraudulent charges to their accounts.”

(nadbasher)
More than 1,000 contest winners flown into Crested Butte, CO, for a Bud Light commercial were stuck in the fictional town of Whatever, USA, last night, as their numbers apparently overwhelmed the local airport and caused some to miss their flights. The lesson here being, you can NEVER leave the party.
Anheuser-Busch spent $500,000 painting the town blue and turning it into one big beer bong for its “Up for Whatever” campaign, renaming the small resort destination Whatever, USA.
But many of the more than 1,000 contest winners flown in to appear in the two-day event/ad shoot found themselves stranded or experiencing long waits when everyone tried to go home last night, overwhelming the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport, reports the Associated Press.
One widely circulated tweet seems to indicate that the situation was a bit cramped:
There's literally 1000 young drunk/hungover kids in this gunnison Colorado airport that's the size of a gas station #chaos #whateverusa—
Taylor Howard (@TheRealTayHow) September 07, 2014
“With more than 1,200 consumers attending Whatever, USA, from all points across the country, it takes time to get through a smaller airport,”a Bud Light spokesman said in a statement last night, while declining to note how many travelers were inconvenienced. “We have a process in place to have all of our guests make the return trip home as safely and smoothly as possible.”
He added that anyone with delays that result in missed connecting flights would have their accommodations covered by the company.
A Transportation Security Administration rep tells the Denver Post there was an issue with some of the planes chartered by the brewers.
“The Transportation Security Administration was contacted early this afternoon after a private security company — hired by three private charter companies — could not keep up with their screening requirements for departing passengers who attended [the event],” he said.
More than 1,000 stranded in Crested Butte after Bud Light party [Associated Press]
Attendees stranded in Colorado after Budweiser’s Whatever USA event [Denver Post]
Here at Consumerist HQ, we were both intrigued and horrified when a plausible-looking mockup of a pumpkin spice flavored condom spent the weekend circulating around the Internet. If pumpkin spice gum and bacon condoms can exist, why not? Alas, the wrapper circulating online isn’t real, even though some people kind of want it to be.
The image doesn’t look very authentic, but a pumpkin spice condom is just plausible enough that people kept sharing the image. At first, Durex kept speculation alive by not commenting on the matter. Pumpkin spice is hot in the United States, sure, but could the mania support a limited-time holiday-themed prophylactic? Durex does have a selection of fruit-flavored condoms, but no holiday-themed offerings. Should they?
The company cleared things up this afternoon with a tweet:
We've heard talk that we launched a Pumpkin Spice condom. We can't claim this one, but we do love it when people spice it up in the bedroom.—
Durex USA (@Durex_USA) September 08, 2014
They’ve THOUGHT about it? Well, that at least puts pumpkin spice condoms closer to existing than fried chicken Oreos.
The Austin American-Statesman reports that Whole Foods teamed up with Instacart to offer online grocery service in 15 major U.S. cities.
The new service, which will be piloted in Austin and Boston, operates like other grocery delivery services with the exception of placing an Instacart employee in the Whole Foods store to fulfill orders in as little as one hour.
According to a painful-to-watch online video ad for the service, that apparently means you’ll never have to go without a gluten-free cupcake or be forced to sit out of a coffee break but there’s only (gasp) full-lactose milk available.
To use the new service, consumers enter their ZIP code on the Instacart website or app then shop with a virtual cart. Once they’ve checked off their list, customers chose a delivery window of anywhere from one our to two hours or another scheduled time.
Then the embedded Instacart personal shopper receives the order on his or her smartphone, begins shopping for the items and makes the delivery or sets the goods aside for pickup.
Additionally, customers can use the new service to send groceries to others; as seen in the video when a drunk grandma sends her fraternity-member grandson tofu.
The venture provides the first delivery free, before charging $5.99 for one-hour delivery and $3.99 for two-hour delivery. Instacart offers a $99 annual membership for free deliveries of purchases of more than $35.
Whole Foods launches national grocery delivery, pickup service [Austin American-Statesman]
According to the New York Daily News, the Bronx man settled a wrongful death suit against the three airlines late last month.
The suit had accused Delta, KLM and Lufthansa of sending his 407-pound wife “on a debilitating ‘wild goose chase’ from airline to airline, airport to home, and country to country” that allegedly led to her death in October 2012. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The woman was wheelchair bound, and attempted to get on her KLM flight home with her husband after their vacation in Hungary. The lawsuit blamed KLM for having seat backs that were broken in their row, that made it impossible to maneuver her wheelchair.
“When informed of the problem, the KLM employees did not offer to change their seats,” the lawsuit claimed, and instead told the couple to get off the plane. After a five-hour wait, they were given a new scheduled departure on Delta the next day out of Prague, five hours away. Delta was made aware of her medical condition, the complaint alleged, and said it wouldn’t be an issue to get her home.
However, that attempt to board failed as well, as “Delta did not have an adequate or proper wheelchair” to transport her, the suit said. So they went back to their vacation home, and another flight was scheduled on Lufthansa for Oct. 22, a week later. Again, the husband said they were told it wouldn’t be a problem to accommodate them.
That situation didn’t work out either, with the lawsuit claiming that the pilot interrupted the boarding process when it was almost complete and told the couple to disembark, as other passengers had connecting flights to catch and there couldn’t be any more delays.
The woman fell sick soon after, her husband says, and she passed away on Oct. 24, nine days after she was supposed to see her doctor in New York.
EXCLUSIVE: Airlines settle $6M lawsuit in death of Bronx woman who was ‘too fat’ to fly home to the U.S. [New York Daily News]
We complain about holiday mashups and Holiday Creep, but we secretly love “Nightmare Before Christmas” displays, where retail necessity meets art, and cool holiday mashups ensue. Hobby Lobby puts out their Christmas merchandise early, even by craft store standards, and we have gradually grown to enjoy these Halloween trees, even as it’s fundamentally wrong to celebrate the coming of autumn with evergreens.
These weren’t the only Halloween trees on display at a Hobby Lobby store near Consumerist’s Albany bureau: an even bigger tree sits between the checkout lanes. These holiday mashup trees line both sides of the store’s entryway, delighting and confusing all customers.
Last year, discount retailer and aspiring landlord Kmart kicked off its Christmas marketing early. Really early. Last year, the chain waited around until September 10 to start airing its first Christmas ad. This year, they moved that start date up, presumably so people who chatter about retail would complain about the early start date and embed the ad. You win, Kmart.
The spot emphatically denies that it has anything to do with Christmas, while showing Christmas imagery such as Santa, Christmas trees, reindeer, and an apparent birthday cake for Jesus.
Of course, like last year’s ad, this spot isn’t really an advertisement for holiday shopping: it’s an ad for the store’s layaway program.
A friend once told me that her parents used layaway not just to spread out payments over time without using credit cards, but to keep gifts picked out ahead of time hidden from their four kids until Christmas. A typical layaway contract at Kmart is eight weeks long, so people who shop today would need to find a hiding place for almost another month and a half.
The stores of Sears Holdings Corporation must really be excited about Christmas: they started their countdown with a “199 Days Until Christmas” e-mail blast in June.
In all seriousness though, city officials say they’re simply testing the project to see if it can help to make pedestrians more visible to cars, reports the Miami Herald.
The plan is for people to grab a flag, step into the crosswalk and make eye contact with drivers heading your way, before waving the flag as you cross.
So far it doesn’t seem to be catching on quite yet — the Herald reports that most people ignored the flags or used the button that turns on yellow flashing lights instead. It could catch on, though.
“It feels a little weird having to carry around a flag, but it’s kind of cute. I think it’s working,” said one pedestrian.
This isn’t the first time city officials have tried waving the orange flag — St. Paul, Minn., Berkeley, Calif. and Seattle have all used similar programs in the past. But because a lot of people just stole the flags and there wasn’t a huge amount of success, Seattle and Berkeley both dropped the system.
So far three of the four flags in Fort Lauderdale have been stolen, and replacement flags have gone into circulation. That doesn’t have city officials waving the white flag just yet, Vice Mayor Romney Rogers explained.
“The idea of adding the flags was to add another element of safety and it’s a minimal cost to the city,” Rogers said. “It’s all part of the process of changing people’s ideas about transportation.”
Fort Lauderdale asks Las Olas pedestrians to wave safety flags at drivers [Miami Herald]
(SchuminWeb)
Back in my day, deer urine was a thing that one might reasonably expect to be sprayed on the ground, in the forest, or on the floors of doe bathrooms.
But in Oklahoma, police say an 18-year-old and a 24-year-old man soaked a bunch of Walmart merchandise in the stuff, causing $2,500 in damages to the store’s goods, reports Fox 23.
The twosome is accused of spraying anything from toys to shoes and clothing in doe urine, before fleeing the scene. Police caught up with the two across the street and they reportedly admitted to the pee spree.
“It’s just kind of shameful. I mean, these kids need to grow up,” one shopper told the news station, echoing the “kids these days!” sentiment. Because really? Gross.
Police: Doe urine sprayed on products at Owasso Walmart [Fox 23]
(Matte)
Sweden’s Electrolux announced Monday that it would pay $3.3 billion to purchase the century-old GE appliance business, Reuters reports.
The deal gives Electrolux, the second largest appliance maker in the world, a stronger foothold in North America. The company expected to more than double its annual North American sales to about $10 billion, enough to rival Whirlpool – the largest appliance makers in North America.
Electrolux, which sells under Frigidaire, AEG and Zanussi, will get to keep the iconic General Electric Appliance brands including GE Monogram, GE Cafe and Hotpoint.
Additionally, Electrolux will receive GE’s 48.4 % stake in Mexican appliance maker Mabe.
Electrolux takes on Whirlpool in U.S. with $3.3 billion GE Appliances buy [Reuters]
Nothing lasts forever, not even a $100 Never Ending Pasta Pass from Olive Garden. But that price will buy you all the pasta, salad, bread and soda you can stuff in your gullet for seven weeks from the chain eatery with its new gimmick.
Despite the name, the never endingness of the deal is limited to seven weeks for whoever holds it.
And there’s another really super big catch, besides the one that promises pasta forever — only 1,000 of the pasta passes will be sold, reports USA Today, starting today at 3 p.m. ET on the Olive Garden web site. The passes are a piggyback PR stunt that goes along with Olive Garden’s Never Ending Pasta Bowl event this month.
“What we’re trying to do is get some attention,” says Jay Spenchian, executive vice president of marketing. “It’s sure to provoke a reaction.”
If you’re dreaming of bringing all your friends out to eat on the pass, you might get a stern glance or two but no one’s going to smack that fork out of your buddy’s hand.
“Of course, if someone shares we do understand — we’re not policing the tables,” Spenchian explains, and doggie bags are fine as well.
Olive Garden: $100 for 7 weeks of pasta [USA Today]
(Patrick)
We turn once again to cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs — responsible for both breaking the story of the Home Depot hack and for a subsequent report indicating that the breach may have hit nearly all 2,200 Depots in the U.S. — who now cites a “source close to the investigation” as saying that inspection of store cash registers has turned up evidence that some were infected with a new variant of the “BlackPOS” malware strain that collects information from customers’ cards as they are swiped.
It was a variant of BlackPOS that helped the Target hackers amass huge amounts of stolen information from customers during the 2013 holiday shopping season.
Krebs says that the use of the same type of malware, along with the fact that the recently stolen card numbers went up for sale last week on the same black market used to sell the hacked Target data indicates there might be a connection between the people responsible for the two hacks.
Nine additional batches of credit card numbers have been put up for sale on the same black market site in recent days, all under the same “American Sanctions” label used for the initial batches discovered a week ago.
As of late Sunday night, Home Depot had not publicly confirmed that a hack had occurred, though it has repeatedly stated that it is investigating the matter and working with law enforcement.
Prince William County community calendar, Sept. 7-13, 2014 Washington Post Dale City Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-1 p.m., Dale City Commuter Lot, (behind Center Plaza Shopping Center), Dale Boulevard. Free. 703-670-7112, Ext. 227 or www.pwcparks.org. “War and Peace” tintypes, an exhibit of portraits by Melissa Cacciola depicting ... and more » |
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