Walmart Jewelry Partner Exposed 1.3 Million Customer Records

On February 6th, 2018 researchers came across another publicly accessible MSSQL database backup, which was found to hold the personal information, including names, addresses, zip codes, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, ip addresses, and, most shockingly, plain text passwords, for shopping accounts of over 1.3 million people (1,314,193 to be exact) throughout the US and Canada.

The MSSQL database belonged to MBM Company Inc., a jewelry company based in Chicago, IL, which operates mainly under the name  Limogés Jewelry,  a Walmart partner. The MSSQL database also contained numerous records for retailers other than Walmart. Over the years, Limogés Jewelry has done business with retailers such as Amazon, Overstock, Sears, Kmart and Target, among others.

Whenever a major data breach occurs, there are security steps that we should all take.

Keep an eye on your bank accounts

You should already be frequently checking your bank statements, looking for suspicious activity. It's even more critical when there is a massive data breach. Especially like the one just discovered at Limogés Jewelry. Since account passwords were left exposed in plain text, thieves could have enough information to break into financial accounts. If you see anything that seems strange, report it immediately to your bank. It's the best way to keep your financial accounts safe.

Beware of phishing scams

Scammers will try and piggyback on data breaches like this. They will create phishing emails, pretending to be from Limogés Jewelry or Walmart, hoping to get victims to click on malicious links that could lead to more problems.