In a breach report that is eerily reminiscent of an incident last year, Amway Corp. has reported a web site breach that has enabled fraudsters to obtain some Amway independent business owners (IBOs)’ personal information and attempt to divert bonus payments by altering their banking information.
In a notification to the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office dated May 6, Thomas Curran, Associate General Counsel for Amway reported (pdf) that on April 28, the company discovered unauthorized access to some user accounts. In some cases, user IDs and passwords had been changed, as had banking deposit information for bonus payments.
According to Curran, Amway’s investigation indicated that the breach did not originate with the AmwayGlobal.com web site, also known as Quixtar.com. The company does not know where the breach originated, how many individuals were affected, or even when the breach occurred.
In response to the incident, Amway has scrambled affected users’ passwords and password hints, and is requiring them to call in to re-establish access. The company is also offering those whose Social Security numbers were accessed free credit monitoring services and has modified the web site to remove access to Social Security numbers.
In all major respects, this newest incident is seemingly identical to an incident reported by Quixtar in May 2008, except in that incident, no Social Security numbers were reportedly involved. Quixtar North America became Amway Global.
Amway Global’s web site says:
Protecting Your Information
We acknowledge your trust and are committed to take reasonable steps to protect Personally Identifiable Information you provide online from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access. We employ physical, electronic, and managerial processes to safeguard and secure your information.
It is your responsibility to safeguard the password you use to access our Site, and to promptly advise Amway or your IBO if you ever suspect that your password has been compromised. We strongly encourage you to change your password regularly to prevent unauthorized access. Because your identification number and password are specific to you, you acknowledge sole responsibility for any and all use of our Site conducted with your identification number and password.
Amway Global did not return a phone call requesting a statement about the two breaches, leaving unanswered questions as to whether Quixtar erred in concluding that its breach did not originate with its site last year, and whether Quixtar/Amway failed to adequately secure their site before and after the first breach.
May 14: See response from Amway Global here.