Saturday, July 2, 2011

Honda Canada Faces a Major Data Breach, Warns Its Customers to Stay Careful


After one of the world’s largest data breach in Sony’s Network, now Honda Canada has fell victim to similar crime as its customers’ personal information gets compromised from their database. Honda made the public declaration on Friday announcing that the data of almost 283,000 customers was stolen, which included the customers’ names, addresses, vehicle ID’s. It was also further notified that financing account numbers of few accounts might also have been leaked during the data breach.
The company has reassured its customers that the stolen data is not of the kind which would let the criminals to commit identity theft or fraud easily. It could have been possible to forge and cheat the users if the stolen data included details like birth dates, telephone numbers, email addresses, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, driver's license numbers, social insurance numbers, or dollar amounts of financing or payments.
The company explained that this stolen data was initially collected in a campaign in 2009; the campaign included multiple mailing programs for the owners of Honda and Acura to register at the myHonda and myAcura websites. Toronto Star reports that Honda initially identified mysterious activities in its e-commerce websites in late February, after which it immediately sent an e-mail to all the possible affected customers, on 13th May, informing them about the unusual activity they are witnessing on their website and instructing them to remain cautious. The official warning e-mail stated declared that there has been “some unauthorized attempts to access account information.” Honda has remained very protective of the details regarding the breach and does not confirm or deny the detailed information about the breach being published in reports of local newspapers.
The only official statements from the company asserted that it is engaging with all affected customers and keeping them updated through timely sent e-mails. It stated that it has not recommend the customers to act any differently, in fact just instructed them to remain caution and stay alert for any forged marketing campaigns, from unidentified sources, which might be making reference to their Honda owned vehicle. Furthermore Honda also announced that its staff is always available for further inquiry and instruction at their toll-free number: 1-800-839-2826, which is open 24/7 since 16th May just to facilitate the affected and puzzled customers.

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