Neiman Marcus says nearly 5 million customers affected by data breach

Department store chain Neiman Marcus announced this week it is scrambling to investigate a data breach affecting nearly five million customers and more than three million payment and gift cards.

Neiman Marcus said in a press release that, in May of 2020, "an unauthorized party obtained personal information associated with certain Neiman Marcus customers' online accounts." 

"The personal information for affected Neiman Marcus customers varied," the company said, "and may have included names and contact information; payment card numbers and expiration dates (without CVV numbers); Neiman Marcus virtual gift card numbers (without PINs); and usernames, passwords, and security questions and answers associated with Neiman Marcus online accounts. 

"Approximately 4.6 million Neiman Marcus online customers are being notified of this issue. For these customers, approximately 3.1 million payment and virtual gift cards were affected, more than 85% of which are expired or invalid."

The company said it is "working closely with Mandiant, a leading cybersecurity expert, to investigate."