#Loblaw is warning #PCPlus rewards collectors to beef up their #passwords after points were stolen from some members' accounts. There’s also a recall of PC Organics (Loblaws brand) baby food.
"We are treating this as a breach as individual member accounts were accessed and points were stolen," said Kevin Groh, the company's vice-president of corporate affairs and communication, in a statement.
Meanwhile, Global News reported that Canadian Tire shut down customer access to online accounts this week in the interests of protecting their personal information.
"We recently noticed unusual traffic on our website and suspended customer sign-in capabilities while we investigate," communications manager Stephanie Nadalin told Global, which said it had been alerted to the problem by an unnamed Canadian Tire customer.
Those trying to access their points and credit card information on their computers instead saw a message saying that the sign-in option was "temporarily unavailable" and the company was working on the problem.
Groh said the Loblaw breach stems from people using favourite or weak username and password combinations across multiple sites.
These combinations were stolen from other sites and used to access PC Plus accounts, according to Groh.
In an email to PC Plus members sent late last month, Loblaw pointed to sites like Yahoo and LinkedIn, which were both hacked in recent years.
Last year, LinkedIn said a 2012 security breach compromised more than 100 million user passwords. It was previously believed only 6.5 million passwords were implicated.
Also last year, Yahoo said the personal information of more than one billion of its users was stolen during a 2013 breach.
Loblaw said the company is unable to disclose how many accounts lost points as the company is continuing to work with any members whose points were taken to reinstate them.
The company emailed all PC Plus members late last month, urging them to update their passwords. It asked members to create unique passwords that are a combination of letters, numbers and characters, and to change them frequently.
Loblaw also notified law enforcement, Groh said.
Groh said Loblaw's IT security team is monitoring unusual activity and is investigating any possibility of underlying IT vulnerabilities.
© The Canadian Press, 2017
(via Loblaw advises PC Plus points members to change passwords after hack - Business - CBC News)
Loblaw Companies Limited is recalling PC Organics brand baby food pouches from the marketplace because they may permit the growth of Clostridium botulinum, known as botulism.
According to Health Canada, a manufacturing error resulted in excess water in the product, which could allow growth of the bacteria, which could be deadly.
This additional information was identified during the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's (CFIA) food safety investigation.
In Western Canada, the products have been sold at Extra Foods, Loblaws City Market, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Real Canadian Wholesale Club, Your Independent Grocer, Shoppers Drug Mart and affiliated independent stores up to and including February 8th, 2017.
Health Canada.
Recalled products should be thrown out or returned to the store where they were purchased.
Symptoms of the illness can include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, dizziness, blurred or double vision, dry mouth, respiratory failure and paralysis. In severe cases, people botulism could cause death.
There have been reported illnesses that may be associated with the consumption of these products although the severity of their illness is unknown.
