Retail giant Eddie Bauer has been hit with malware, the store reported in a press release on Thursday.
The store claims that the attack was part of a large scale effort against multiple hotel, restaurant, and retail chains. An investigation was launched when officials became alerted to a breach in their point-of-sale systems, in which malware had been installed.
In an open letter from CEO Mike Egeck, the company states: "We want to assure you that we have fully identified and contained this incident. Unfortunately, malware intrusions like this are all too common in the world that we live in today." He adds, "We are conducting a comprehensive review of our IT systems to incorporate recommended security measures in order to strengthen them and prevent this from happening again. We have been working closely with payment card organizations and customers will not be responsible for any fraudulent charges to their accounts. We also have been working with the FBI to identify the perpetrators and provide whatever cooperation is necessary to hold them accountable."
Experts determined that attacks occurred between January 2, 2016 and July 17, 2016 at in-store registers. Online orders placed through eddiebauer.com were not affected.
Eddie Bauer has begun notifying customers whose payment data was potentially stolen, and will be providing free services from Kroll, who deals with risk mitigation and response, for 12 months.
