After breach at customer loyalty service, deal winners might lose money

Clients of Super Valu, Axa and Stena Line who booked getaways through the retailers’ loyalty program, during the past three months, could have had their credit and debit cards compromised.

Suspicions about a potential breach arose Oct. 25. After further investigation, the program, operated by LoyaltyBuild, notified the Irish government.

Authorities said LoyaltyBuild’s systems were encrypted, and it was unclear how much information had been taken. Card security numbers were not stored on the program’s computers, and therefore not exposed.

Some 39,000 Super Valu customers from the Republic and Northern Ireland booked breaks, another 50 with Stena Line and 4,368 with Axa. Another 102,000 customers in Norway and Sweden may also be affected.

It could take up to 15 days to determine how much information was affected.

Axa began emailing customers on Nov. 6, and plans to send follow-up letters.

Loyaltybuild manages and operates AXA Leisure Breaks on behalf of AXA Ireland, which gives customers a special rate on hotel and self-catering breaks.

ThreatWatch is a regularly updated catalog of data breaches successfully striking every sector of the globe, as reported by journalists, researchers and the victims themselves.