West Des Moines, Iowa — Hy-Vee, Inc. says they are conducting an investigation into a data incident involving their payment processing systems.
According to the company, which has stores in our area in Sheldon and Sioux Center, after recently detecting unauthorized activity on some of their payment processing systems, they say they immediately began an investigation with the help of leading cyber-security firms. They say they also notified federal law enforcement and the payment card networks.
Hy-Vee officials tell us they believe the actions they have taken have stopped the unauthorized activity on their payment processing systems. And that the investigation is focused on card transactions at fuel pumps, drive-thru coffee shops, and restaurants (which include their Market Grilles, Market Grille Expresses and the Wahlburgers locations that Hy-Vee owns and operates). They say these locations have different point-of-sale systems than those located at their grocery stores, drugstores and inside their convenience stores, which utilize point-to-point encryption technology for processing payment card transactions.
According to Hy-Vee officials, that encryption technology protects card data by making it unreadable. Based on their preliminary investigation, they believe payment card transactions that were swiped or inserted on these systems, which are utilized at their front-end checkout lanes, pharmacies, customer service counters, wine & spirits locations, floral departments, clinics, and all other food service areas, as well as transactions processed through Aisles Online, are not involved.
According to Hy-Vee officials, they take the security of payment card data very seriously.
Again, they believe that transactions at Hy-Vee fuel pumps, drive-thru coffee shops, and restaurants are the only ones affected.
Unfortunately, according to Hy-Vee officials, because the investigation is in its earliest stages, they do not have any additional details to provide at this time. They tell us they will provide notification to their customers as they get further clarity about the specific time frames and locations that may have been involved.
Hy-Vee also tells us that it is always advisable to closely monitor your payment card statements for any unauthorized activity. If you see an unauthorized charge, immediately notify the financial institution that issued the card because cardholders are not generally responsible for unauthorized charges reported in a timely manner. The phone number to call is typically located on the back of the payment card.
For more information, please visit www.hy-vee.com/protectingourcustomers.
