Supply chain β›“ Supply Chain

PNI Digital Media Photo Center Breach (Krebs on Security, NBC News, SC Magazine)

πŸ“… 2015-06-01 🏒 PNI Digital Media (online photo printing platform)
Primary Source β†—

Incident Details

In June and July 2015, attackers compromised servers operated by PNI Digital Media, a Canadian company (subsidiary of Staples) that provided online photo printing and processing services to major retailers. The attackers installed malware on PNI’s systems that captured and exfiltrated customer data as it was entered on the photo center websites, affecting an estimated 300,000 or more customer records. The breach impacted online photo services for at least six major retailers: CVS, Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart Canada, Rite Aid, and British supermarket chain Tesco. On July 17, 2015, CVS was the first to take down its CVSPhoto.com site, posting a warning that credit card data may have been compromised. Costco, Walmart Canada, and Rite Aid followed by suspending their online photo services within days. Compromised data included customers’ names, physical addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, photo account usernames and passwords, and credit/debit card information (card numbers, expiration dates, and security codes). The class action lawsuit established that the breach window extended from June 2014 through July 2015 for transactions made through PNI-operated photo websites. CVS formally confirmed the breach on September 11, 2015, notifying customers that “unauthorized acquisition of data” had occurred on CVSPhoto.com. The affected retailers offered identity monitoring and credit protection services to impacted customers. Multiple class action lawsuits were filed against CVS, Costco, Rite Aid, and PNI Digital Media. On December 1, 2017, a settlement covering CVS, Costco, and Rite Aid photo customers was granted final approval. The affected photo center websites were rebuilt with enhanced security measures and gradually re-launched beginning in September 2015. The incident highlighted the systemic risk of third-party vendor breaches, as a single compromise at PNI cascaded across multiple major retail brands simultaneously, affecting millions of customers who had no visibility into which company actually processed their photo orders.

Technical Details

Initial Attack Vector
Malware installed on PNI Digital Media servers used to capture and exfiltrate customer payment card data and personal information from online photo center transactions
Vendor / Product
PNI Digital Media (online photo printing platform)
Supply Chain Attack
βœ… Confirmed third-party / vendor compromise

Timeline

  1. 2015-06-01 Breach occurred
  2. 2015-07-17 Publicly disclosed
  3. 2015-09-11 Customers notified