Hannaford Bros. Security Breach May Affect 4M Customers

BUSINESS IN BRIEF

Hannaford Bros. security breach may affect 4M customers

The Hannaford Bros. supermarket chain has reported a security breach that led to thefts of customer credit and debit card numbers from more than 200 stores, potentially putting more than 4 million cards at risk of fraud.

Hannaford says the security breach affects all of its 165 stores in the Northeast, 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida and a smaller number of independent groceries that sell Hannaford products.

The Scarborough, Maine, company puts the number of unique credit and debit card numbers that were potentially exposed to fraud at 4.2 million, and there have been about 1,800 cases of reported fraud related to the security breach, said Carol Eleazer, Hannaford’s vice president of marketing.

The company says credit and debit card numbers were stolen during the card authorization transmission process, but no personal information – like names, addresses or telephone numbers – was divulged.

Hannaford first became aware of unusual credit card activity on Feb. 27. Investigators later discovered that the data breach began on Dec. 7; it wasn’t contained until March 10, Eleazer said. The company urged its customers to monitor their credit and debit card accounts for unusual transactions and to report any problems to authorities.

State Lottery, Celtics in deal for playoff sponsor promotions

BRAINTREE – The state Lottery has inked a deal with the Boston Celtics to be the presenting sponsor of the team’s 2008 playoff run. A co-branded logo featuring both organizations will be integrated throughout the Celtics’ promotions of the playoffs. The Lottery, headquartered in Braintree, will also sponsor a giveaway for the first home game of each round of the playoffs.

AirTran Airways to relocate within Logan, add flights

BOSTON – AirTran Airways plans to add flights to Chicago and Milwaukee and to relocate its check-in and ticketing operations at Logan Airport from the lower level of Terminal C to the terminal’s main lobby.

Starting today, the airline plans to use the old Continental Airlines ticket counter in the terminal, and will use new boarding gates: 38, 40, 41 and 42.

AirTran also plans to add two new nonstop routes from Boston this spring. AirTran will add three daily flights to Chicago’s Midway airport starting on April 9, and two nonstop flights to Milwaukee will start on May 21.

Mass. gas prices rise another nickel

Gas prices in Massachusetts rose by another 5 cents a gallon in the past week, according to AAA Southern New England. The motorists group reported that the average for regular, self-serve gasoline in the state rose to $3.14 per gallon on Monday from $3.09 per gallon a week ago. A year ago at this time, the statewide average was $2.53 a gallon.

EMC’s revised offer more to the liking of Iomega

HOPKINTON – Iomega Corp. of San Diego, a data storage company best known for the Zip drive, said it considers a revised $205.5 million takeover offer from EMC Corp. to be superior to a previous takeover proposal from a stockholder.

Iomega said EMC’s revision to its earlier, unsolicited offer would increase the offering price for Iomega’s 54.8 million outstanding shares to as high as $3.75 per share. An offer from Hopkinton’s EMC that Iomega disclosed a week ago proposed a price of $3.25 per share, or about $178.1 million. Iomega had considered that offer to be inferior to one it had already received from one of its major shareholders.

Patriot Ledger staff and news services

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