Today's Data Breach: CVS, Costco Shut Down Photo Sites

(RTTNews) - Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) and Wal-Mart's (WMT) Sam's Club along with few other major retailers have disabled their on-line photo printing stores in the past few days over possible data breach.

The move follows news of a possible data breach at PNI Digital Media, which manages and/or hosts photo providers sites. PNI Digital Media had been breached and is currently undergoing an investigation into a potential credit card data issue with the assistance of outside security experts.

Costco said in a statement, "As a result of recent reports suggesting that there may have been a security compromise of the third party vendor who hosts Costcophotocenter.com we are temporarily suspending access to the site."

Sam's Club photo website indicated that customer credit card data is not believed to be at risk, while the Tesco photo website simply stated that Tesco Photo is down for maintenance.

Customers who have used the online photo services have been advised by PNI Digital Media to keep an eye on their credit card statements for any suspicious activity. The company said it is sure to update customers as the investigations carry on and more information comes to light.

PNI Digital Media, acquired by Staples, Inc. (SPLS) last year, is a company that operates an on-demand photographic printing service, and partners with retailers to place kiosks in their stores, and provide online services. It operates roughly 8,000 kiosks and handles over 18 million transactions a year.

However, the data breach is likely to affect only online customers, not customers who use the respective retailers in-store kiosks and printing services.

Last week, it was reported that CVS Health Corp.'s (CVS) online photo services at CVSPhotos.com had been hacked, potentially revealing the payment information of its customers.

This news came only a week after Wal-Mart Canada announced its services on walmartphotocentre.ca were also hacked and is temporarily shut down. PNI Digital Media runs both these hacked sites.

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp. (RAD) and British-based grocery store Tesco plc (TSCO.L, TSCDY) have all shut down their online-based photo services recently.