Pity Barnes and Noble. While Borders was going belly-up and Amazon released the Kindle Fire, Barnes and Nobel started to look for a buyer for itself and took its eyes off security. It doesn't take long for bad things to happen. Recently the bookseller admitted that hackers hit 63 of its stores in nine states, including at least nine stores in the New York area.
Barnes and Noble first learned of the attack in mid-September and happily complied with the Justice Department's request not to disclose the problem yet, but wait until December 24 to tell its customers so that the FBI can conduct an investigation.
That would have been one nasty Christmas present. Barnes and Noble explained that the hackers "planted bugs in tampered PIN pad devices" and when credit cards were swiped for payment, so were credit card and pin numbers.
Flashback to 30 years ago when capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol were tampered with and laced with cyanide. In theory, McNeil Consumer Products, the subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, was not responsible for the tampering. The product left their distribution centers and they had no control once the product was placed on the shelves. But the company immediately pulled the product, halted advertising and changed their packaging to regain customers' trust.
Note to Barnes and Noble's CEO: Take a page from that playbook. When a crisis happens, manage it and fix it. Don't hide it.
Every individual who has a credit card, should spend time looking online at the account activity. Most major credit cards now post pending transactions in real time. I get notices when my card is being used. I even spooked my wife by calling her and asking what she just bought at a particular store.
One more thing, Barnes and Noble. Don't skimp on security. It doesn't make you look good.
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