Report: Walmart customer data possibly exposed

Personal information of some Walmart online pharmacy customers reportedly may have been visible online during a four-day period in February 2016.



According to Reuters, a coding mistake may have exposed basic information such as name, address, date of birth, and prescription history of fewer than 5,000 consumers. The error potentially allowed online Walmart pharmacy customers to view each other’s data if they were logged into their accounts at the same time. Social security numbers and full payment card or health insurance information were not visible.



“We had a software coding error for a 72-hour period from Feb. 15 to 18 that affected a limited group of online pharmacy customers," Walmart spokesperson Dan Toporek told Reuters. "We moved quickly to fix the issue once it was discovered.”



The error happened during a server migration and did not represent any type of security breach or intentional incident. Although currently there is no indication any of the data has been misused, Walmart is contacting customers who may have been affected and offering them identity protection services.