Saks 5th Avenue stores affected by data breach

Hudson's Bay Co. says customer payment card information was involved in a "data security issue" at certain Saks Fifth Avenue, Saks OFF 5th and Lord & Taylor stores in North America.

The company didn't say whether any Canadian locations were affected.

It says the investigation is ongoing, but there's no indication that the breach affects the company's digital platforms or Hudson's Bay and Home Outfitters stores.

HBC says there could be fraudulent charges to customers' accounts because of the breach, but adds that those customers won't be liable to pay them.

It's asking clients to review their account statements to ensure there hasn't been activity or transactions they don't recognize.

The company says it will notify customers affected by the breach as quickly as possible and will offer free identity protection services to those affected once they learn more about the breach.

The company also said there's no indication that social security numbers or driver licence information were affected by the breach.

New York-based security firm Gemini Advisory LLC says that a hacking group called JokerStash announced last week that it had put up for sale more than 5 million stolen credit and debit cards, and that the compromised records came from Saks and Lord & Taylor customers.

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