Smartphone Experts Store Advisory (Incident Notification)

[Store Team]

On July 12th, Smartphone Experts discovered suspicious activity on a system used to process credit card payments for orders made through our online stores. This system powers accessory stores for several websites, including the WPCentral Store.

We immediately implemented measures to prevent any further unauthorized access, and engaged a leading computer security firm to investigate and provide recommendations for additional security measures.

The security firm completed its investigation on August 5th 2013 and found evidence that although credit card information is encrypted when it is stored, the hacker may have had the technical ability to use a decryption feature of the system to view some customer?s credit card information.

Over the next few days we will be notifying all individuals via mail or email whose information may have been affected so they can take steps to protect their cards from any potential fraudulent charges. We have provided all relevant information about this incident to the credit card companies so they can take steps to protect their cardholders. We are also working with law enforcement.

We are committed to maintaining the security of any and all personal information in our system and are taking this matter seriously. We have implemented additional security measures in order to prevent an event like this from occurring in the future.

We will provide support via this forum thread, but for any individual concerns please don?t hesitate to email us at support@smartphoneexperts.com or call us at ( 888 ) 599-8998, option 2.

 

[Assassin 11B3P]

WPCentral Store HACKED

I got a letter from a place called Smartphone Experts. I had no idea who they were and I have no recollection of ever doing business with them.

So I read over the letter and it said that their servers were hacked and that sensitive information may have been compromised. After dinner, I went online to find out who these people were and discovered that:

Smartphone Experts? is an online retailer of smartphone accessories, powering a network of e-commerce stores that offer a wide selection of products, rapid fulfillment, and knowledgeable expert support. We retail accessories from over 80 manufacturers.

Our network of stores is primarily marketed through smartphone-centric online communities, which offer everything from editorially independent news and reviews to discussion forums.

We stock over 5000 accessory products from over 80 manufacturers.

• Android: Here is the link. I believe WPCentral should sticky this link to the top of every sub-forum on the site.

 

[jlangner]

Re: WPCentral Store HACKED

I received a letter as well. Is there no way to access your account to see what cc I have on file? That is pretty sad if true...guess I will no longer trust this site with my cc again...Agree on letter. WTH would they not list stores could be associated with. Had to bing it to find it was here.

 

[ho0lee0h]

Yea. How can I find out what card was used?

 

[jlangner]

If you can find your old email from whenever you ordered from them, the last 4 are on it..just found mine...TG it was already a cancelled card.

 

[Store Team]

Re: WPCentral Store HACKED

I received a letter as well. Is there no way to access your account to see what cc I have on file?

The call center can pull up the last four digits as well as the associated store of each at-risk order. You can also PM us via the forums and we can assist.

 

[RJ Priest]

Re: WPCentral Store HACKED

I was just made aware of this topic by stumbling across it on Crackberry.

I made an order at the end of June, paid with credit card via PayPal. Are we only at risk if we paid smartphone experts directly via credit card? I am away from my mail for last week and this week, unsure if I've received a letter, but I do not see any fraud on my list of credit card transactions dating back to the end of June.

 

[Store Team]

Re: WPCentral Store HACKED

I was just made aware of this topic by stumbling across it on Crackberry.

I made an order at the end of June, paid with credit card via PayPal. Are we only at risk if we paid smartphone experts directly via credit card? I am away from my mail for last week and this week, unsure if I've received a letter, but I do not see any fraud on my list of credit card transactions dating back to the end of June.

Correct, any orders made via PayPal were not affected.

 

[Assassin 11B3P]

Re: WPCentral Store HACKED

I called their customer hotline listed in the letter. All they could tell me was that my card was in the database of people who purchased things from the store between a certain date range (going back to March, I believe). However, they couldn't tell me anything more.

But keep scrutinizing your accounts...heck, change your card out now to safeguard it. As I mentioned, I got hit twice. Fortunately the money was covered by the bank.