Loblaw investigates data breach after identifying suspicious activity

A man leaves a Loblaws store in Toronto on Thursday, May 3, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Loblaw said on Tuesday it was investigating a data breach after identifying suspicious activity on a contained, non-critical part of its IT network.

The retailer said a criminal third party accessed some basic customer information such as names, phone numbers and email addresses, but its probe indicates that passwords, health data and credit card information were not compromised.

Loblaw said it has notified customers of the breach. They will be automatically logged out of their accounts and will have to sign back in to access its digital services.

The company said its financial services subsidiary, PC Financial, was not impacted and the incident was not expected to affect its financial performance.

Loblaw had reported its fourth-quarter revenue below analysts’ estimates last month, signalling weak consumer spending amid still-high inflation and rising cost-of-living.

Sanskriti Shekhar, Reuters