Forever 21 warns customers: their personal data might have been compromised

Forever 21 announced on Tuesday that customers who shopped in certain stores this year may have had their credit-card information stolen.

This data breach might have specifically affected customers who shopped in the chain’s stores from March 2017 through October 2017. However, the number of people potentially affected was not yet available.

Forever 21 said in a press release that its investigation is ongoing and further explained that a third-party monitor alerted the retailer to the fact that in some instances, an encryption used to hide customer credit-card data was not functioning properly.

“Because of the encryption and tokenization solutions that FOREVER 21 implemented in 2015, it appears that only certain point of sale devices in some FOREVER 21 stores were affected when the encryption on those devices was not in operation.”

“The company’s investigation is focused on card transactions in FOREVER 21 stores from March 2017 – October 2017. Because the investigation is continuing, complete findings are not available, and it is too early to provide further details on the investigation. FOREVER 21 expects to provide an additional notice as it gets further clarity on the specific stores and timeframes that may have been involved.”