Wawa

The Unfortunate and Massive Wawa Cyber Attack

The Wawa CyberAttack

Wawa convenience stores suffered a malware attack on their server, and it affected a broad base of consumers. Hackers were successful in penetrating Wawa’s systems and collecting large swathes of information.

The hackers unleashed a treasure trove of data, as evidenced by its appearance on Joker’s Stash. 

But what is the appropriately named Joker’s Stash site, and what does it do?

Well, it’s present on the dark web and acts as a marketplace that deals with credit card information. 

Hackers started advertising the information as soon as possible, and here we are.

When Was the Wawa CyberAttack?

The attack took place in the last week of January.

How Many Were Affected?

The latest reports note that at least 30 million accounts in the United States were exposed. At the same time, more than 1 million people around the world saw a breach of their financial data. 

Much of the affected accounts seem to stem from Florida, according to Gemini. That’s strange as many Wawa locations are concentrated closer to the Northeast.

This is a yuge deal because this was one of the most massive data breaches in retail history.

Will the Hackers Win?

Firms note that buyers are quite likely going to stay away from purchasing these credit card details. Public exposure makes these specific details less savory. Continuous awareness of these details may prevent buyers from risking potential hassles when using credit card information.

What is more peculiar is that in its public statement Wawa announced that the CVV numbers were not exposed, even though the ad on the dark web says that all CVV numbers are available. 

Wawa has since cautioned all its customers to keep an eye on their account activity and report anything suspicious to their bank immediately.

This is important because under rules that comply with federal laws: if a customer reports fraudulent activity in time, they will receive reimbursement for the false charges.

Best Practices

Stay Away From Debit Card Use

Stay away from using your debit card. Credit cards provide safety and convenience in more ways than one. Trust me, I learned it by watching a talk given by Frank Abagnale

Who’s Frank?

Remember the movie, Catch Me if You Can with Leonardo Dicaprio?

Yeah, he’s who the movie is based on, and he sheds light on some interesting insights into his life and our present security situation.

Don’t Be Cavalier with People Who Say They’re Bank Representatives

Steer clear of people who call you and say they’re from your bank account calling because of some issue. Tell them you’ll call back when you’re free. Google your bank phone number and call them back later.

Refresh Your Passwords

No one wants to refresh their passwords but it helps to create substantial value and create more complexity for cyberhackers.

You want to minimize your chances of becoming a Wawa incident type of victim or at least minimize potential damage from the incident.

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