It was just a little over a year ago that I told you about a massive data breach at beauty supply company, Sally Beauty and apparently they have not learned their lesson.  Earlier this week the store said it was looking into “reports of unusual activity” on credit and debit cards used at some of its stores.  According to the store, “Since learning of these reports, we have been working with law enforcement and our credit card processor and have launched a comprehensive investigation with the help of a leading third-party forensics expert to aggressively gather facts while working to ensure our customers are protected.” It appears that more than 25,000 transactions were compromised by the data breach.  Once again, however, Sally Beauty did not take the prudent step of moving to smart card technology as some companies, such as Wal Mart have done ahead of the October 2015 deadline for doing so.

TIPS

Just as I advised you yesterday, the best thing you can do to protect yourself when shopping in a retail store is to not use your debit card which, if compromised can potentially put your entire bank account in jeopardy.  You also should carefully monitor your credit card statements to look for fraudulent purchases so that in the event of a data breach, you can quickly determine if you have become a victim of identity theft and close down the account so that all it will cost you is the inconvenience of getting a new credit card.