Personal Information Leak: Giant Tiger Customer Data Compromised

According to the retailer, the personal data of Giant Tiger store customers is believed to have been linked to one of its suppliers during a “security incident”.

“Following an incident at a Giant Tiger technology service provider, […] A security incident affecting personal information recently occurred,” the store chain indicated on its website Monday morning, without disclosing the name of the service provider in question.

The low-cost retailer was notified of the breach on March 4 and said it immediately launched an investigation, which made it possible to confirm ten days later that its customers' personal information had indeed been affected. The incident was also reported to the Information and Privacy Commissioners.

Affected information includes customer names, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. “However, payment information or passwords were not affected,” channel spokeswoman Alison Scarlett said in an email.

“This incident did not affect any Giant Tiger systems or applications and there is no indication that personal information was misused,” she added.

In the next few days, Giant Tiger will send an email to the people affected by the information leak.

In the meantime, customers should “be cautious” when receiving emails, mail, text messages or calls that “appear to be from Giant Tiger,” as fraudsters may use schemes to make their phishing message appear to be from a legitimate sender.

“Be especially careful when asked to provide your personal information, payment information or password. Under no circumstances will Giant Tiger ask you to provide your payment information or password,” it said.