Kroger Hit By W-2 Data Breach At Equifax

In an email sent on May 5, grocery giant Kroger has alerted its current and some past employees to a possible theft of their W-2 information following a security breach at Equifax Inc. Identity thieves stole workers’ tax and salary data from the credit bureau’s W-2Express site and may use this to file for fraudulent tax returns in their names, reports KrebsOnSecurity, quoting Kroger.

The grocery chain, which is one of Equifax’s many customers, has more than 431,000 employees who are registered on the W-2Express portal.  

The company email says the site was breached using employees log-in information which includes the last four digits of the Social Security number and the four-digit birth year. This reportedly is the default Equifax set-up for all customers.

Kroger is working with Equifax and relevant authorities to identify the affected employees and says it will provide them free credit monitoring services. Equifax says it has "no indication" that other Kroger’s systems have been compromised.

According to Krebs, Kroger told employees they would know they were victims in this breach if they received a notice from the IRS about a fraudulent refund request filed in their name.

Read more on this at KrebsOnSecurity.